Fernandes' finishing problem for Man Utd

When Bruno Fernandes whacked in a stunning strike with his weaker left foot from 25 yards and slid on his knees in front of the Stretford End in celebration of clinching a comeback win over Sheffield United last April, he had racked up seven goals in his last five games for Manchester United.

Twelve matches on, he is still waiting for another one.

Fernandes’ most prolific spell of his Man Utd career has been followed by his longest drought.

His failure to break the streak has not been through a want of trying. Just ask any Manchester United fan who has agonised at Fernandes’ speculative and sometimes desperate attempts to find the net. (There were two shots against Southampton recently which were each given barely more than a one per cent chance of going in by Opta.)

He has had 30 shots without success during the past dozen matches.

His total of 17 attempts in the Premier League this season is the highest of any player yet to score in Europe’s major divisions.

Fernandes has not even hit the target in his past four Premier League games, although he did go close against Crystal Palace, bouncing a shot up off the ground and onto the frame of the goal.

A slash wide of a post in the second half of that match at Selhurst Park was the third big chance he has missed this season, adding to the two he spurned from one-vs-one chances on the opening night of the campaign at home to Fulham.

Unfortunately for United boss Erik ten Hag, this is not just an issue isolated to his captain.

Man Utd rank third for expected goals this season in the Premier League, with a total of 9.10. The quality of openings they are carving out is impressively high. But they have missed more big chances than any side in the division, spurning 17 out of 19 clear-cut opportunities. Only relegation-threatened Southampton have a worse conversion rate.

It leaves them with just five goals to their name, almost half as many as they would be expected to have scored from the chances they have created.

Joshua Zirkzee – who has missed all four of his own big chances, although he does have one goal to his name – joins Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho among the top six players in the league with the worst xG performance this term.

With just two wins from their first five Premier League games, Ten Hag can rightly look to the 2-1 defeat at Brighton and 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace as results which could easily have been improved with sharper finishing from his players.

With United down in 11th in the early Premier League table, already four points off the top four, ground has been lost.