Manchester Derby: Who is better - Bruno Fernandes or Kevin De Bruyne
With both Manchester sides battling to prove they are title challengers, Saturday's derby at Old Trafford is not to be missed. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is on the brink after Manchester United's humiliating Champions League exit in midweek, while Manchester City are still a long way from peak form.
Paul Pogba's future will no doubt dominate the build-up to this match, but all focus will be on Bruno Fernandes and Kevin De Bruyne, the two best players, as soon as both squads cross the white line at Old Trafford on Saturday.
De Bruyne, who is expected to captain City, has long been regarded as the best player in the Premier League, but Fernandes, who many think should be United skipper, is seriously challenging that way of thinking. After completely transforming United in such a short space of time, Fernandes has already been compared with United legend Eric Cantona.
The Portugal international was crowned the Premier League's official Player of the Month for November on Friday, the third time he has picked up the gong in seven months. In fact, only two players have ever picked up three Premier League Player of the Month awards in one calendar year and Fernandes has impressively managed it in his first 12 months.
Is Fernandes now the best in the Premier League, or is that still De Bruyne? What do the stats say about the pair since Fernandes made his United debut at the start of February. It's incredibly close, that is for sure.
When comparing the two there is no better place to start than analysing what they are in the team to do: score goals and make assists. Fernandes has remarkably played a direct hand 37 goals in 39 appearances in all competitions for United. He is unquestionably United's most important player. United's chances of securing a top four finish last season looked dead and buried prior to Fernandes' arrival but he was the catalyst to an eventual third-place finish. Even this season, United surprisingly find themselves only five points off first with a game in hand. Most of that is down to Fernandes.
De Bruyne, meanwhile, has scored or assisted 27 goals in 31 minutes. In other terms, if you leave De Bruyne on for a full game he will play a decisive part in goal (every 87.7 minutes). Fernandes by comparison does so even quicker, with a direct goal contribution every 83.2 minutes of playing time. City supporters will be shouting penalties at this point, though De Bruyne has scored six himself in this period. But it is true Fernandes has greater freedom to roam forward compared to the tactical demands of Guardiola with De Bruyne.
De Bruyne is therefore slightly inferior in that respect but the Belgium international does have a marginally better WhoScored rating (7.75) compared to his counterpart (7.63). In fact, De Bruyne is the highest WhoScored rated player in the Premier League since February, with Fernandes third behind Tottenham's Harry Kane.
Yet it is this head-to-head that is more exciting than the prospect of De Bruyne verus Kane. Fernandes and De Bruyne will see the two best midfielders in the Premier League go toe-to-toe with so much on the line. It's also the first time both are facing off against each other for club after De Bruyne missed the last derby back in March through injury.
Both are superbly effective but also differ in style. While you would say De Bruyne is effortless on the eye, more elegant on the ball and rarely misses a beat, Fernandes is more europhic in style. His passion bleeds through into his play. De Bruyne is not your typical leader on the pitch but Fernandes certainly is. He holds high expectations and isn't afraid to let his team-mates know if they fall below them. His vision and awarness is also outstanding and does rival De Bruyne's, illustrated by the fact both have 11 assists in the Premier League since February - a league high.
One of those assists came in the last Manchester Derby back in March. Fernandes caught City's defence napping from a free-kick, playing a perfectly weighted dinked ball over the top for Anthony Martial to latch on to. On Saturday, however, with De Bruyne back in the side he will hope to hog the headlines. He heads into the weekend as the third most in-form player in the Premier League, according to our player form rankings, and has nine assists in his last seven appearances for City. You won't find a better head-to-head match-up all season. It promises to be a cracker.
It would be interesting if you took out the set-piece data: remove the penalties, and remove corners taken from key passes. Also when you look at passing chains and build-up, De Bruyne does much better than Fernandes.
The writer passed over one important difference. By the time Fernandes arrived back in January, he was much fresher than KDB. Guardiola had heavily exploited his main man in the past few seasons and with the title gone, he tried not to play him so often anymore. The Belgian was subbed off after an hour in many matches, most of all as soon as City had 2+-goal leads and KDB could have scored high WhoScored ratings. On the other hand, Solskjaer relied way more heavily on Fernandes in order to clinch the fourth Champions League spot. Moreover, Guardiola often employed KDB in a more defensive role and turned to Mahrez and Bernardo Silva to play in KDB's habitual position. That decision will not have improved KDB's stats either. Finally, Kevin De Bruyne does not miss four or more penalties in six (he scored 2 goals according to the graph), so he couldn't have taken six pens in the EPL since January. The writer confounds the facts and includes non-league goals for that stat.
"De Bruyne, meanwhile, has scored or assisted 27 goals in 31 minutes." - Well, that is much better than Lewandowski 5 goals in 9mins I have to say :)