Why Bruno is on an unprecedented streak

Sunday 05 February 2023 18:27

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has now registered a goal involvement in six successive Premier League appearances for the first time in his Reds career.

The Portuguese carried on his recent influential streak by scoring the opener from the penalty spot in our 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Fernandes is enjoying a fine season thus far under Erik ten Hag’s stewardship and his hard work is now resulting in goals and assists, at an even better consistency than during his red-hot start to life as a Red, after his arrival from Sporting in January 2020. 

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Before his Old Trafford penalty earlier this weekend, Fernandes had scored in the reverse fixture at Palace just 17 days earlier, a game after netting our equaliser in the Manchester derby

During our recent run of fixtures, the midfielder has also set up Marcus Rashford’s goals against Arsenal, Bournemouth and Wolves.

It means that he now has a goal or an assist in each of his last six Premier League matches, overhauling his previous best of five, set between February and June of 2020 – with the Covid hiatus in between – inside his first six months at the club. 

Fernandes has of course had more involvements in a lower amount of consecutive league games – his best is eight contributions in just four outings during the 2019/20 campaign – but this run shows the admirable consistency that our no.8 is playing with during a busy period for Ten Hag’s side.

Earlier this season, Bruno told NBC Sports that despite his fast start to life at United in the relevant statistical columns, his game is not all about those desirable numbers, stating that he is now more involved in matches and helping the team to win.

It looks, however, like the Portuguese’s ever-present work rate is now being rewarded with an unprecedented streak in his United career, helping to yield 13 of a possible 18 points in that time. 

During his recent run, he also scored in the first leg of our Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg victory at Nottingham Forest, before assisting Fred’s clever flick in the Emirates FA Cup fourth-round triumph at home to Reading.

Our no.8 will no doubt be looking to stay influential in the final third as he looks to help the Reds defeat Leeds United in the Premier League on Wednesday evening. 

The 20:00 GMT kick-off is the first of two successive games against our rivals from the other side of the Pennines – an opponent he has eight goal involvements versus in just four matches.

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