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Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino up for Premier League player of the month

Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, Manchester United's Jesse Lingard and Marco Alonso of Chelsea are among the contenders for the Premier League player of the month award for December.

Harry Kane, Marko Arnautovic, Riyad Mahrez and Nicolas Otamendi are the other players nominated.

Salah is in following a month in which he scored seven times in as many appearances, while Firmino was on target six times.

Egypt international Salah was named the African Player of the Year on Thursday, finishing ahead of Senegal attacker and Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Lingard, meanwhile, gets the nod after scoring five goals in seven games, including important braces against Arsenal and Burnley and the winner against West Brom.

There are six managers nominated with Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, Chelsea's Antonio Conte, Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham among them.

Crystal Palace's Roy Hodgson and Everton's Sam Allardyce complete the candidates.

Hodgson led struggling Palace to a run of just one defeat in seven games to help them climb away from the relegation zone, while Allardyce did a similar job, with Everton defeated once in six games during December.