Koeman, Aguero win monthly Premier League awards

(Reuters) - Southampton's Ronald Koeman has been named Premier League manager of the month for January, becoming the first Saints manager to receive the award on three separate occasions, while Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero won the players' award. Koeman steered the Saints to three Premier League wins out of a possible four in January, beating Watford, West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United. Their only defeat came against Norwich City on Jan. 2. "I'm very pleased because it's always nice to win awards," said Koeman, who fended off competition from Manchester City counterpart Manuel Pellegrini, Tottenham Hotspur's Mauricio Pochettino and West Ham United's Slaven Bilic. "It's of course a personal prize but it's great for the whole technical staff, all the players, the people in the club and the fans that we win again." Aguero also wins the award for the third time in his career, after scoring five of City's eight Premier League goals in January and registering one assist as City took eight league points out of a possible 12. (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)