The Premier League has published the shortlists for December’s Player and Manager of the Month awards.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin led the scoring charts for Leeds United, netting a league-high six goals across five games. His return included strikes in wins over Chelsea and Crystal Palace and helped Leeds record draws with Liverpool, Brentford and Sunderland as the club climbed away from the relegation zone.

Manchester City provide three nominees. Rayan Cherki recorded four assists and a goal while helping City to five victories. Phil Foden contributed four goals and an assist. Erling Haaland, September’s Player of the Month, produced five goals and three assists in December as he bids to become a two-time winner.

Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitiké matched Haaland with five goals, scoring in victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion and registering a brace in a busy draw with Leeds.

Aston Villa have two forwards in contention. Morgan Rogers finished December with four goals while Ollie Watkins reached five during a winning run that extended to 11 games before a defeat to Arsenal.

Fulham winger Harry Wilson enjoyed a strong month, scoring twice against Burnley and Crystal Palace and supplying four assists as the Cottagers emerged as European hopefuls.

On the managerial side, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta navigated a defensive injury crisis to deliver five wins from six games, extending Arsenal’s lead at the top. Arteta met Aston Villa’s Unai Emery twice in December, with the spoils ultimately shared. Emery’s side also beat Chelsea and Manchester United and recorded a win against Arsenal.

Leeds went undefeated under Daniel Farke during a month that included fixtures against Chelsea and Liverpool, where a new formation produced a crucial unbeaten run. Pep Guardiola closed the year with five wins from five as Manchester City finished December in strong form.

The shortlists follow a season that has already seen recent monthly honours awarded to Jack Grealish (Everton) in August, Erling Haaland (Man City) in September, Bryan Mbeumo (Man Utd) in October and Igor Thiago (Brentford) in November. Managerial winners this season include Arne Slot, Oliver Glasner, Ruben Amorim and Enzo Maresca.

FotMob’s ratings singled out five players whose individual displays defined Premier League Gameweek 20.

Jack Grealish was a bright spot in Manchester City’s 4–2 defeat to Brentford at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. The loanee produced two delightful deliveries to tee up Beto and Thierno Barry for consolation strikes and completed more dribbles (four) than anyone on the pitch. He also led the match for chances created (four). There was very little for the crowd to enjoy in a miserable loss to the Bees, but Grealish “didn’t deserve to be on the losing team.”

John McGinn was the key architect of Aston Villa’s 3–1 win over Nottingham Forest. The indefatigable Scotsman scored a brace, the first a well-placed finish from inside the area to double the home side’s advantage and the second a remarkable long-range effort aided by a disastrous piece of goalkeeping. Scoring twice from an expected goals total of 0.45 underlined the quality of his contribution. Strangely, this was McGinn’s first double at club level since a 3–1 victory over Forest in the Championship in 2018–19.

Malick Thiaw continued to impress for Newcastle United, scoring his third Premier League goal in a 2–0 victory over Crystal Palace. The summer recruit was an absolute colossus defensively, registering a game-high 17 defensive contributions, including five tackles and 10 clearances, helping secure a clean sheet. His speed and physicality were crucial in thwarting Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Declan Rice overcame doubts over an injury to start for Arsenal and was central to a 3–2 win over Bournemouth. He delivered two composed finishes, bending a low effort beyond Djordje Petrović for Arsenal’s second and calmly converting Bukayo Saka’s pull back for what proved to be the winning goal. Rice’s all-action midfield display included 14 defensive contributions, and he was only out-passed by two players in the contest.

Harvey Elliott has emerged as a reported target for Charlotte FC as his season-long loan at Aston Villa has failed to deliver regular playing time. The Liverpool loanee has made just five appearances for the Villains and has not featured since October. Aston Villa appear unlikely to trigger the purchase option in his loan agreement, while Liverpool have no option to recall him.

FIFA rules prevent Elliott from signing for a third club in a competition that runs on a summer-to-spring calendar, narrowing his options. With few pathways open domestically, Charlotte have been identified as a possible destination. The Athletic reports the MLS side are interested in a move similar to the transfer that brought Wilfried Zaha to North Carolina in 2025, a deal that followed Zaha’s spells at Galatasaray and Lyon.

Elliott remains “undecided on his future,” and faces a choice between staying and continuing to occupy a peripheral role under Unai Emery or moving to MLS, whose 2026 season starts in late February. A transfer to Charlotte would offer the most immediate route to regular minutes through to June, unless Villa and Liverpool agree a new arrangement.

Emery has publicly addressed Elliott’s lack of minutes and the constraints around his loan. “I must take a decision but not damage the person. Because he’s a very good person and player and he deserves the best. After he leaves, we can maybe use the position he is in to work for something,” Emery said.

“The problem we have with Harvey is this year he is on loan and in case he is playing matches, we must buy him. We decided two months ago we are not convinced to sign him, spending the money we need.

“This is the issue. But he is training every day, very good with us to help us in training and of course it is not good for him or good for us, but it is football and sometimes we must take decisions that are not good for us.”

Across four months with Aston Villa Elliott has logged only 167 minutes. For a player seeking consistent minutes, a move to MLS would represent the clearest path to game time through the end of the season.