Conte, Mourinho, Pochettino and Klopp up for manager of month
Friday 6 January 2017 18:10, UK
Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp are the nominees for the Premier League manager of the month for December.
Chelsea duo Diego Costa and Gary Cahill, Manchester United pair Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Tottenham's Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, Liverpool's Adam Lallana and Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez are all nominated for the player of the month award.
Conte's Chelsea won all six games in December as they equalled the Premier League record of 13 consecutive victories in a single season.
Klopp guided Liverpool to second place in the table, winning 13 points from a possible 18. They bounced back from a thrilling 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth and a draw with West Ham by winning four in a row.
Mourinho's Manchester United opened the month with a draw at Everton but since then they have been unstoppable, winning five straight games.
Spurs won four of their five games in December as they found some momentum under Pochettino.
Conte won the award in October and November.
Lallana, who scored twice against Middlesbrough and another against Stoke, was pivotal to Liverpool's fine month.
Sanchez started the month with a hat-trick in Arsenal's 5-1 hammering of West Ham, and he added four more goals and three assists in December.
Eriksen scored twice against Hull and Swansea, and created two more, while his team-mate Alli scored against Burnley and added a double in the 4-1 win at Southampton.
Costa scored four of his 13 Premier League goals in December, while Cahill bossed the Chelsea defence which kept four clean sheets, with the centre-back also scoring against Stoke.
Pogba has been finding his feet in the Premier League and December was his best month yet at Old Trafford, with the Frenchman scoring against Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace, and adding two assists.
Team-mate Ibrahimovic took his tally to 50 league goals in 2016 with five strikes in six December fixtures. After netting the winner at Crystal Palace, the striker scored twice apiece against Middlesbrough and Sunderland.
