January Player and Manager of the month nominees revealed

Santi Cazorla (L)

The Premier League’s monthly award nominations have been revealed, and the manager award contains two title-chasing titans against two relegation-battling hopefuls.

Gus Poyet and Tony Pulis have been put forward for the award while Jose Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini are also both in the running.

Poyet saw his Sunderland side pick up seven points from their four matches in January, including a 4-1 win over relegation rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage. They also beat Stoke 1-0 at home and drew 2-2 with Southampton, as well as reaching the Capital One Cup final with a two-legged semi-final success over Manchester United.

Crystal Palace had a similar record, beating Stoke and Hull while drawing with Norwich. Their only defeat came at White Hart Lane to Tottenham.

Mourinho’s Chelsea side were unbeaten in January with away wins at Southampton and Hull and a 3-1 victory over Man United at Stamford Bridge, where they also drew 0-0 with West Ham despite having nearly 40 shots.

Manchester City were unstoppable under Pellegrini during January with four wins from their four games as Swansea City, Newcastle and Tottenham were all beaten on the road, while Cardiff City fought valiantly but went down 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium.

Man City’s Yaya Toure is amongst the players nominated for the player of the month. Luis Suarez, Santi Cazorla and Adam Johnson are also in contention for the award.

Toure played a key role in City’s four victories and scored three goals along the way. Suarez was his usual superb self, scoring four goals to help Liverpool beat Hull City and Everton along the way to claiming 10 points in four matches.

Cazorla was fantastic in January and scored three goals, including a double in a 2-0 home win against Fulham.

Adam Johnson had arguably the best month in the Premier League after scoring a hat-trick against Fulham as well as scoring two more to take his tally for the month to five.