ROY Hodgson is in with a good chance of claiming his second 'manager of the month' prize of the season.

And that would be a remarkable achievement by the Blackburn Rovers boss who is enjoying his first season back in English football after a self-imposed exile abroad for the past decade and a half.

He returned to English football in triumph by clinching Carling's first managerial prize of the season for August.

And his latest challenge is built on the fact that Rovers were the only Premiership team to go through the month of December without defeat.

They began in third place, quickly moved into second behind Manchester United and stayed there.

The latest winner is due to be announced this week and the only genuine challengers to Hodgson are Roy Evans and Alex Ferguson.

Evans' Liverpool team enjoyed four wins during December but also suffered a defeat. Manchester United had a similar record but also suffered an extra defeat in the Champions' League, away to Juventus.

Hodgson was a clear-cut winner of the first monthly award of the season for his team's flying start. It remains to be seen how the panel judge his latest achievements, though he can feel a little hard done by if he doesn't get the latest nomination.

It would be difficult, for example, for Evans to pick up the prize after his team were beaten by challenger Ferguson's United during the month.

Judge for yourselves on the results of the three top bosses for December:

Rovers: Bolton (h) W 3-1, Arsenal (a) W 3-1, West Ham (h) W 3-0, Sheff Wed (a) D 0-0, C Palace (h) D 2-2.

Liverpool: Man Utd (h) L 1-3, C Palace (a) W 3-0, Coventry (h) W 1-0, Leeds (h) W 3-1, Newcastle (a) W 2-1.

Man Utd*: Liverpool (a) W 3-1, A Villa (h) W 1-0, Newcastle (a) W 1-0, Everton (h) W 2-0, Coventry (a) L 2-3.

*Also lost 1-0 to Juventus.

Meanwhile, the next Ewood visitors Aston Villa have been hit by injury to their England defender Gareth Southgate. The Villa captain is facing two weeks out with an ankle problem and will miss Saturday's clash against Leicester, next week's FA Cup replay with Portsmouth and possibly the game against Rovers a week on Saturday. He twisted an ankle in the game at Portsmouth and manager Brian Little said: "It looks like he will be missing for two weeks.

"His ankle is quite bruised. It is not a bad injury, but it will be enough to keep him out of the next two games and possibly the one at Blackburn."

Rovers' FA Cup fourth round tie away to either Sheffield Wednesday or Watford has been selected for 'live' screening by Sky TV and will now be played on Monday, January 26 (kick-off 8pm).

Wednesday and Watford will not replay until tomorrow week, following their 1-1 draw but Rovers will announce ticket details for either Hillsborough or Vicarage Road as soon as possible.

They have pencilled in their own potential replay date against Wednesday or Watford for Tuesday, February 3, at Ewood (kick-off 7-45pm).

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.