Antonio Conte honoured

LONDON. - Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has won December's Manager of the Month in the English Premiership.

The Italian becomes the first manager to win the award for a third month in succession.

Chelsea won six successive matches in December equalling the English Premier League record of 13 consecutive victories.

And Conte beat Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp, Manchester United's Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino, of Tottenham Hotspur to the award.

“I'm very proud,” he told the Chelsea website.

“It's a great honour for me but I want to say thanks to all of my players, my staff (pictured below) and the club because we won the award together. Now it's important to continue to work very well together.

“I enjoyed my first Christmas period a lot. This type of atmosphere only happens in England and it was fantastic. I hope to experience it again many times in the future.

“When you win you usually see a lot of positive things and every game was different. We won six matches and to do that, especially in December, is very difficult.