The highlights were undoubtedly the stirring home wins over Chelsea and Aston Villa, while a determined display at Anfield yielded our first draw of the Premier League campaign, against current leaders Liverpool.

As usual, we have three candidates in contention for our Player of the Month award, and they all came through the club's Academy, the first time this has been the case for the nominees since November 2019 (Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Brandon Williams).

Please cast your vote in the poll and the result will be announced on Saturday.

JONNY EVANS: 4 (3) apps

The Northern Ireland international has proved to be an astute arrival in the summer, bringing his experience and composure to the backline and helping the Reds deal with a number of absentees in the centre-half position.

His stand-out moment of the month was a brilliant goal-saving block against Aston Villa, with the score at 2-2, to prevent John McGinn quickly changing the mood at Old Trafford, moments after Alejandro Garnacho's equaliser.

Evans was also excellent in helping shut out free-scoring Liverpool and has also noticeably helped support the younger players during games, such as Willy Kambwala and Kobbie Mainoo.

ALEJANDRO GARNACHO: 8 apps / 2 goals / 2 assists

The fleet-footed winger has nailed down a regular place in the side, starting each of the eight games across December. An accurate cross from the left allowed Scott McTominay to power home the winner against Chelsea, and he was dangerous in every match, including having chances to score at Liverpool and West Ham United.

The two-goal show in the classic comeback over Villa was undeniably the individual display of this period, as he terrorised the Midlanders' defence from an unfamiliar starting role on the right. The Argentina international even found the net on three occasions at Old Trafford that night, only for VAR to rule out his first effort due to a marginal offside call.

In the disappointing defeat at Nottingham Forest, last time out, he did well to capitalise on a misplaced pass by keeper Matt Turner to set up Marcus Rashford's strike.

As the recipient of November's award, the 19-year-old is in contention to win the trophy for a second successive month.

KOBBIE MAINOO: 5 (1) apps

The youngster has shown maturity beyond his 18 years to emerge as a starting option in the base of the midfield, following his return from injury. Gaining in experience all the time, including getting on the pitch in the UEFA Champions League tie with Bayern Munich, the teenager helped the Reds see out the goalless draw at Liverpool and refused to let one slip distract him against West Ham.

A good display in the win over Villa followed, as we came back from two goals down to secure the three points, before he was withdrawn at the interval with the score at 0-0 at Forest, due to fatigue starting to creep in after a run of games during the busy festive period.