Bruno Fernandes has provided 19 assists in the Premier League this season. He’s now just one behind the record for a single season, held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne. And, of course, he’s two assists away from breaking it.
The Portuguese midfielder has now been directly involved in 140 goals for Manchester United, matching Cristiano Ronaldos’ return in 11 fewer matches.
Fernandes has also either scored or assisted in each of his past seven Premier League games, being the first Man Utd player to do so since Robin van Persie in 2012-13.
A continuation of this rate would see Fernandes break the Premier League record for most assists in a single season.
In this article, we’ll cover
Fernandes’ season so far
Fernandes has made 33 appearances for Man Utd across all competitions, scoring eight goals and providing 20 assists. All eight goals have come in the league, alongside 19 assits.
Man Utd were knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup at the first available opportunity, meaning they have only been playing one game a week for the majority of the campaign.
The 31-year-old was close to leaving the club in the summer, with Al-Hilal offering big money for the attacking midfielder. But he rejected the offer to stay and fight in Manchester at the highest level.
Fernandes played deeper under Ruben Amorim but still provided good chance creation numbers, releasing passes from deep to kickstart attackers. Since Michael Carrick’s arrival, Fernandes has provided 11 of his 19 league assists, also scoring three times. He’s once again the focal point in attack, playing in a more advanced position.
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Chance creation
Fernandes ranks first in plenty of creation metrics this season, including chances created, big chances created, assists and through balls completed.
The Portuguese midfielder has created 55 more chances than any other player in the Premier League season, with 114 — ahead of Declan Rice’s 59.
Fernandes is averaging 0.63 assists per 90 minutes this season, creating 3.79 chances, with 0.93 of those being big chances.
He is effective in a variety of ways as a primary creator, with a brilliant set-piece delivery, the ability to release runners from deep with his passing range, but also the pausa and decision making to find intricate passes around the box.
Pausa = effective
Fernandes’ assist against Brentford in their 2-1 victory is a perfect example of why he will complete the mission and break the single-season assist record.
The ball breaks as Brentford are looking to attack, with Amad Diallo winning the ball back with a sliding challenge which deflects into Fernandes’ path.
By keeping Fernandes in these positions to regain possession quickly, it allows him to control the attacking transition, being the one to make the final ball and big decisions, which is an ideal platform for your best player.
But it’s what Fernandes does in this 3v2 scenario that explains his efficiency with assists this season, as he waits to make the final pass to Benjamin Sesko.
With Sesko to his left and Bryan Mbeumo to his right, Fernandes drives the ball forward towards the two defenders looking to defend the situation, waiting to provoke their defensive response before playing the final pass.
By delaying this action, essentially going idle on the ball for a few seconds at the edge of the box, it forces Sepp van den Berg to commit as Fernandes enters the box, creating more space for Sesko when he receives in the box.
This gives him the extra second to take a touch, pick his head up, evade the challenge from Nathan Collins and slot it home, which wouldn’t have been possible without that initial bit of pausa from Fernandes to create optimal conditions for the receiver.
Passing range
As mentioned in the previous section, Fernandes is the player you want to find as quickly as possible once you regain possession, as he is the guy you want playing it forwards to make things happen and lead the attack.
This also applies when releasing runners from deep, as Fernandes has the quality to play longer ranged passes and through balls with the likes of Sesko, Mbeumo, Diallo and even Matheus Cunha running beyond.
Fernandes provided an assist against Aston Villa in their 3-1 victory which highlighted this ability to release runners in behind, as he played a first time threaded through ball between the full-back and centre-back into the path of Cunha.
Surrounding Fernandes with players willing to run off the ball and trust his ability to find them is a perfect recipe, and that has been proven once again this season, adding more runner profiles in the front line to aid him.