Robin van Persie and Andre Villas-Boas win Barclays' December awards

Robin van Persie has won the Barclays Player of the Month award for December, while Tottenham Hotspur's Andre Villas-Boas has won the managerial award.

The Manchester United player is the top goalscorer in the Barclays Premier League this season after netting five times in six games during December as his side maintained their place at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

"It was a big month for us," said Van Persie upon receiving the award. "You have certain periods during a season when it goes your way and December was one of those periods."

André Villas-Boas was named the Barclays Manager of the Month for the month after guiding Tottenham Hotspur to four wins and a draw from their six Barclays Premier League fixtures.

"It’s been an excellent December for us and we've managed to put ourselves in the kind of position that we want to be," Villas-Boas said. "We sit third in the league, but it is where we finish at the end of the season that matters."