FPL lessons learned as Martial and Rashford outscore Fernandes

Man United 2-2 Southampton

• Goals: Marcus Rashford (£9.0m), Anthony Martial (£8.3m) | Stuart Armstrong (£5.2m), Michael Obafemi (£4.9m)
• Assists: Martial, Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) | Nathan Redmond (£6.2m), Jan Bednarek (£4.4m)
• Bonus Points: Martial x3, Bednarek x2, Rashford x1

Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) left his horde of Gameweek 35+ supporters wanting more as Manchester United drew 2-2 with Southampton on Monday night.

Crucially, he was outscored by both Anthony Martial (£8.3m) and Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) on a rare off-night for the Portuguese international.

Grabbing an assist for United’s second goal of the evening, Fernandes did manage to ensure his run of games without a blank extended to four but there was much less to admire as usual.

Since arriving in the Premier League, Manchester United’s number 18 has been a shot machine, registering 16 efforts on goal between Gameweeks 30+ and 34+, the joint-third best of any midfielder.

However, across his 83-minute outing against Southampton, Fernandes was unable to shoot even once, while no penalties for his team left the man shorter of points-scoring avenues than usual.

With attention turning to Manchester City and Chelsea midfielders in Gameweek 36+, some even considering the Free Hit chip, Fantasy managers will want to know whether or not they need to keep a slot for Fernandes, who faces an admittedly porous Crystal Palace defence on Thursday.

It must be said that the Portuguese international did look both fatigued and laboured against Southampton, giving away possession in key moments and failing to find his usual insightful delivery.

It probably did not help matters than Paul Pogba (£8.3m) had an even worse outing, at fault for Southampton’s first goal and largely responsible for robbing Manchester United of any consistent rhythm in the 62 minutes he was on the pitch.

“We created some chances, some fantastic football sometimes, Anthony made some good chances for himself. But we never got the rhythm in the passing today.” – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Manchester United have been blessed with a kind fixture schedule in terms of turnaround thus far in Project Restart, although it does appear that the compressed nature of the Premier League’s return is starting to take some sort of toll on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men if this most recent performance is anything to go by.

The fact that the trip to Selhurst Park awaits them on Thursday certainly increases the pressure on their fitness. 

But Fernandes owners have to remember that, since Gameweek 30+, only Norwich (15) have conceded more goals than Crystal Palace (13).

And while Fernandes was outscored by Martial and Rashford on Monday night, he has been a more reliable source of points on the road recently.

United’s French centre-forward certainly looked the part once more against Southampton, coming away with a goal and assist, maximum bonus and unlucky not to get more than…