Bruno lands December's Player of the Month
The votes were cast in their thousands for Manchester United's Player of the Month for December, with Bruno Fernandes taking the award again.
The Portugal international earned 56 per cent of the vote in our Official App to scoop the monthly award for the sixth time since joining the Reds last January.
It is no surprise as he was our Man of the Match in three of the games over this period and continued his personal drive to achieve more goal involvements (goals and assists) than matches in 2020/21.
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WHY IT HAD TO BE BRUNO
The month started badly for United with a luckless defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League but, domestically, the Reds were excellent in remaining unbeaten across seven matches in the Premier League and Carabao Cup.
Despite the defeat to RB Leipzig meaning Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men move into the Europa League in 2021, the side propelled themselves into second place in the table with a string of eye-catching results and performances, with Bruno very much to the fore.
The midfielder was our star man against West Ham United, Manchester City and Leicester City. Indeed, he told us his substitute appearance in the comeback win over the Hammers was his best in the red shirt.
The 26-year-old scored against Leipzig, Leeds United (twice) and Leicester City, and now has seven assists in the Premier League this term, the most recent of which was the long ball that led to Marcus Rashford's dramatic winner against Wolves. With his strong mentality and world-class ability, he continues to be a real fans' favourite.
KEY STATS
Frankly, it is difficult to keep up with all the amazing numbers and statistics that Fernandes is recording at United.
The main figures are now 10 goals in 15 league games this term, which is pretty extraordinary for a midfielder. In the Champions League, he contributed four goals and an assist from the six group games and has an assist to his name in the Carabao Cup as well.
Sky Sports' Power Rankings, based on the entire year, have Bruno in fourth spot, which is remarkable considering it did not count his time in January with Sporting Lisbon as it only rates the top five European leagues. Superstar names Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo were ahead of him in the table.
Since his debut in February, only Mohamed Salah (20) has scored more than his 18 Premier League goals, and he has the most assists (14) in that timeframe as well.
His current average rate of goal-involvements per game (1.10) is viewed by Opta as the highest in United's history in the division, beating Eric Cantona's figure of 0.80. Little wonder his impact has been compared to that of the talismanic Frenchman.
WHO ELSE WAS NOMINATED?
Rashford pushed his team-mate all the way with a wonderful end to a year when the forward really stood up to the plate, on and off the field. Marcus was our Man of the Match against Sheffield United and Wolves - and picked up 31 per cent of the Player of the Month vote.
Fred was the other nominee, in recognition of his tireless efforts in midfield, with the Brazilian gaining the other 13 per cent.
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2020/21 WINNERS SO FAR
September: Juan Mata
October: Marcus Rashford
November: Bruno Fernandes
December: Bruno Fernandes