• Premier League

Under-fire Moyes up for Manager of the Month award

David Moyes has been nominated as Manager of the Month for December, despite enduring a difficult time at Manchester United.

The news comes on the back of United struggling under their new manager, following a shock third round exit in the FA Cup to Swansea and a loss to Sunderland in the first leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final.

Moyes, whose United side have lost all three games they have played in 2014, is up against Chelsea's Jose Mourinho, Everton's Roberto Martinez and Manchester City's Manuel Pellegrini for the honour.

But one man to be overlooked is Tottenham's Tim Sherwood, who after the club sacked Andre Villas-Boas guided his side to two wins from three in December. And Spurs ended the month with a better points-per-game ratio than United, at 2.00 compared to United's 1.86, the fourth and fifth best returns in the league for December respectively.

Moyes was nominated despite suffering back-to-back home defeats during December when Everton and Newcastle both won at Old Trafford.

However, United, who began the month with a 2-2 draw at Tottenham, ended it with six straight wins in all competitions, including four in the Premier League.

Pellegrini, who won six of his seven league games and took 19 points from a possible 21, and Mourinho, with five victories, have better December records than Moyes.

Moyes won 10 Manager of the Month awards during his 11-year stay at Everton, with the last coming for his efforts in March 2013, but is yet to win one at United.

Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers, Arsenal's Arsene Wenger, Southampton's Mauricio Pochettino and Newcastle's Alan Pardew won the first four monthly awards of the season.

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