Norwich City have been top of the Championship since mid-November but the Canaries have again been overlooked for the division's monthly awards.

Daniel Farke and Emi Buendia were both nominated for December's awards, making it a third consecutive month that the City head coach and one of his players have been nominated, but have not won the prize.

It's Brentford boss Thomas Frank claiming Manager of the Month ahead of Farke on this occasion, having claimed two more points (18) than Norwich during their eight games last month.

While Argentine ace Buendia is pipped to Player of the Month by Duncan Watmore of Middlesbrough - an admittedly nice story of redemption, after scoring five goals in December on a short-term contract to bounce back from terrible injury problems.

Clearly the leaders have no divine right to claim such awards but given they've remained top since a 1-0 win at Middlesbrough on November 21, in spite of a horrendous injury crisis, it's surprising to see Farke again overlooked.

It's even more surprising that the German has only won the award once before, in November 2018, despite his success at Championship level - with Sheffield United's Chris Wilder named EFL Manager of the Season in 2019 despite Farke masterminding an unexpected title triumph.

Buendia contributed four goals and two assists to City's five wins and a draw last month, earning the club's Player of the Month award for December, as voted for by Canaries supporters, and his form has seen reports emerge of Arsenal's long-held interest in the playmaker strengthening.

Neither will be losing sleep over the issue, just as Tim Krul and Grant Hanley weren't after their nominations for October and November respectively didn't bring a win. It might just add a bit of fuel to the promotion fire for the Canaries though.

It also avoids the 'curse' of Manager of the Month. Reading chief Veljko Paunovic drew 0-0 at Middlesbrough after winning September's award and Boro boss Neil Warnock suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Norwich in the next game after being named October's winner. It was Vladimir Ivic winning November's award and although Watford did win their next game, 1-0 at Birmingham, he lost his job after failing to win the next two.