Bruno Fernandes vs Declan Rice: Standard Sport writers pick their Premier League Player of the Season | OneFootball

Opinions divided as Arsenal’s midfield general and Manchester United talisman go head to head

As the end of a hectic season approaches, there is still so much left to be decided in the Premier League.

The race for Europe also remains alive, while debates are now bubbling up as to who deserves the honour of being named as the player of the season by the Premier League and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

Bruno Fernandes picked up the first major honour of awards season last weekend, when the Manchester United captain scooped the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year trophy.

But does he deserve a clean sweep of individual awards? Standard Sport’s football writers have their say...

Arsenal have been the best team in England this season and could well finish as the best in Europe, too.

There are several players who have put themselves in contention for the individual awards. David Raya has saved Arsenal at least 10 points, while Gabriel and William Saliba in front of him have both been superb.

However, the fact Declan Rice has been able to stand out so often in a team fighting for the two biggest trophies shows that he should be named player of the season.

Rice is the heartbeat of this Arsenal side, driving them on from midfield and leading by example.

He has stepped up for the biggest occasions, taking home the player of the match award against Bayern Munich earlier this season and again in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid.

Rice was also named player of the match when he filled in at right-back against Brighton in December. Mikel Arteta trusted him there as injuries piled up and he delivered, also switching there against West Ham after Ben White’s injury.

That is one of Rice's key attributes. His almost constant availability in an incredibly hectic season for Arsenal and willingness to play wherever required has perhaps gone under the radar.

Indispensable: Declan Rice has been the driving force of Arsenal’s title bid

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Across four competitions, Rice has played more than 4,000 minutes this season. Of the 60 matches Arsenal have played, he has been involved in 53.

He has missed just one Premier League match and has played every minute of the Champions League knockout stages. Every few days, Rice has been ready to perform.

That was as more of a No8 earlier this season, scoring five goals and chipping in with nine assists. In recent matches, he has dropped back to a No6 role and provided the foundation for some of Arsenal's best performances in months.

There has been a tendency in some quarters to downplay Rice's assist numbers because they come from set-pieces.

It should also be noted, then, that assists have been used to put Bruno Fernandes forward as a leading candidate for player of the season and 10 of his 19 Premier League assists have been from corners or free-kicks.

Rice's delivery from those situations is so often superb and has been crucial to Arsenal's numbers in that department. That is a strength rather than something that should count for less.

Fernandes has also played just 35 games this season. That is fewer than the 36 matches Rice has won.

The pressure and physical toll that comes with competing for the biggest prizes should not be overlooked. Rice deserves to be recognised.

Dom Smith - Bruno Fernandes

Benjamin Sesko’s goal against Liverpool sent conversations diverging. Plenty debated at length whether he had handled the ball and if it needed disallowing.

Some, instead, examined whether Bruno Fernandes’s knock-back header to the Slovenian - parried by goalkeeper Freddie Woodman but straight into Sesko and into the net - would count as an assist for the Portuguese.

That was not what mattered most in the grand scheme of things, of course. But Fernandes has records to match, and then break.

Not an assist, in the end, so Fernandes remains on 19 for the season, one away from levelling with Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne for the all-time Premier League record.

Whether he achieves it or not in United’s final two games, he has been the Premier League’s player of the season. Deliberating over who to vote for did not take me long.

For years, it has been abundantly clear that Fernandes is the best player at United, and by quite some way. It is ironic, though, that his best season is also the one where the Red Devils’ summer signings finally paid off.

Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Senne Lammens have made the team better. Yet still Fernandes demonstrates each week that he is their one world-class player.

Mohamed Salah’s decline and Erling Haaland’s streakiness duly acknowledged, Fernandes may now be the best player the Premier League has to offer. If so, he has lived up to the billing.

Talisman: Bruno Fernandes is unquestionably Manchester United’s most influential player

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He has an uncanny ability to take a game by the horns, lift those around him and handle the immense pressure of being United’s talisman. What has made the 31-year-old this year’s standout player transcends what he can do with his right foot.

There are honourable mentions and always are. Antoine Semenyo lit up the first three quarters of this season and picked up where he left off at Bournemouth as soon as he joined Manchester City with a truly remarkable, seamless transition.

Decide amongst yourselves whether a Ballon d’Or should be won by a goalkeeper, but calls from some Arsenal fans that David Raya ought to be a contender if the Gunners win the double are not outlandish. He’s been phenomenal, as has his team-mate Declan Rice.

When the curtain comes down on this campaign, the achievements of no team will be more down to the impact of one single player than Fernandes and his influence on United. And that clinches it. His body of work this season is extraordinary.

Sam Tabuteau - Bruno Fernandes

There is a feeling that whoever wins the Premier League player of the season has to have been part of a winning team.

But when you have performed as stoically as Bruno Fernandes has this season, amidst yet more managerial turnover at Manchester United, it is hard not to give him the plaudits he so richly deserves.

The Portuguese playmaker is on the cusp of breaking the Premier League assist record and can count himself unlucky not to have already drawn level with Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry after his role in Benjamin Sesko’s goal at home to Liverpool two weeks ago.

Where Arsenal’s success has been built on the strength of their squad, Fernandes has been the standout individual in a season that has called out for the sort of mercurial creativity only he can conjure up.

A leader on and off the pitch, he has guided United through many a rough patch, and now finally deserves to take the acclaim for his talent.

In years gone by, Fernandes has faced a stacked field of nominees. But this season, options are thinner on the ground, and it feels like that has made people finally sit up and take notice.

I am among those who have perhaps taken Fernandes’ talent for granted, with United dominated by upheaval and rarely in the conversation for major honours since he arrived at the club in January 2020.

Record in sight: Bruno Fernandes is looking to register his 20th assist in the Premier League this season

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Even still, he has taken it up a level this season, creating far and away the most chances in the Premier League for a United frontline that has been finding its feet.

Fernandes has topped the charts for chances created in five of his six full seasons in England. Yet, with two games to go, the 31-year-old has already surpassed his tally in each of those seasons.

Without Fernandes, there is no telling where United would be, and he is the main reason they have already secured Champions League qualification this season.

Declan Rice is a worthy adversary, and I certainly would not begrudge the award going his way. David Raya, too, has impressed in a season short of attacking flair.

But for me, the player of the season award should celebrate the individuals who have redefined our enjoyment of the beautiful game over the past 12 months. Truly, only Fernandes can say he has done that consistently.