April has been a hectic month of footballing action, with domestic leagues and cups either becoming wrapped up, or hitting a peak period of time as battles for final points and placings are making a huge end to the season. We also had the final international break of the season coming into April, and the European competitions certainly providing some added mid-week action. As a result, picking out POTM has been a tricky challenge, but we have gone for a player who has spearheaded his team through some crucial games in the last few weeks.

Bruno Fernandes has once again had an influential and crucial month of performances for Manchester United as his efforts have not only helped all-but secure Champions League qualification and a third placed finish, but his 3 club assists have him one behind the all-time Premier League record, and with still a few games to play, he could well become the outright record holder to wrap up what has been a very up and down campaign for his club.

If you have anything to add to our NextGoalWinner POTM decision, or disagree with our pick, head over to X (@NextGoalWinBlog) or Instagram (@NextGoalWin) and let us know what you think of our selection.

Match By Match

April 13th: Manchester United 1-2 Leeds United – Coming off his international appearance in Portugal’s win over the USA in which Fernandes bagged the 2 assists in his counties 2-0 win, the first outing back for his club was the only defeat suffered by Manchester United this month. Going behind early to Leeds, the second half fight-back despite being down to 10 men was led primarily through Fernandes as his creativity helped get the assist for what turned out to be a mere consolation, but his energy and drive pushed his team almost to a memorable comeback result. With an individual 7.9/10 FotMob rating, this was the accustomed Fernandes showing of recent years, an assist and above average showing which most would see as a huge effort, but is just the standard showing for the Portuguese midfielder.

April 18th: Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United – After the disappointment against Leeds, a crucial Champions League qualification match was decided by the efforts of Bruno Fernandes, as he was provider yet again for Cunha’s goal which gave United a lead inside of the first half, and they secured a huge 3 points which essentially secured the Champions League spot for United, but also added an extra dimension for Carrick to pick up another win against a ‘big side’. Fernandes made it his 4th assist of the month, and managed a 7.8/10 FotMob rating again showing his above average consistency.

April 27th: Manchester United 2-1 Brentford – Rounding off the month back at Old Trafford, it was Fernandes again who was pulling the strings for United, helping them to take an early lead and then his assist put United 2-0 up just before the break. With his 5th assist for the month and 3rd for his club, he sits on 19 for the season, 1 behind the all-time Premier League record, and with games to spare it’s likely he could go on to add a huge personal accolade to his career which is more than deserved. In his final outing for the month, he claimed an 8.2/10 FotMob rating, summarising his consistently strong performances in April.