Premier League confirm Manager of the Month for December

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has been named the Premier League's Manager of the Month for December 2023.

Across Villa's seven games, Emery oversaw four victories, including huge wins over both Manchester City and Arsenal which helped his side quietly establish themselves in the Premier League title race.

After 20 games, Villa sit second in the standings, just three points behind leaders Liverpool. Reds boss Jurgen Klopp was also up for the award, as were Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola and West Ham United's David Moyes.

"I'm thankful and very proud of our work," Emery said. "The most important thing is to be consistent, be demanding, and try to improve every day."

This is the second Manager of the Month award of Emery's career, with the Spaniard last picking up the prize in April 2023.

Villa ended 2023 as one of the most in-form teams in the Premier League and Emery challenged his players to further raise their standards in 2024.

"We need to keep being consistent and be demanding in our work every day," he said last week. "We have to remember everything tactically about how we want to defend, how we want to build our structure with and without ball possession, and how we can keep being consistent in our mentality.

"We will try to be competitive in each match, adapt to the opponent and be respectful of them. I think football is very, very, very difficult.

"How we can keep being consistent in everything every day; how we can be responsible and mature to work every day; to try to rest and take good food."

READ THE LATEST TRANSFER NEWS & GOSSIP FROM AROUND THE WORLD