Gary Lineker names his 'player of the season' after Man Utd and Arsenal wins

Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes is Gary Lineker’s ‘player of the season’ so far (Picture: Getty)

Gary Lineker has hailed Bruno Fernandes as a ‘great footballing brain’ and named the Manchester United captain as his ‘player of the season’ so far in the Premier League .

Fernandes was at the heart of United’s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace at at Old Trafford, where the hosts were forced to come from behind to secure all three points.

After going behind to an early Maxence Lacroix header, the Red Devils regrouped and made the breakthrough in the 57th minute after Palace’s goalscorer was sent off for hauling down Matheus Cunha inside the box.

Fernandes made no mistake with the resulting spot-kick, sending Dean Henderson the wrong way to make it all square, and the Portuguese turned provider just seven minutes later to complete the fightback.

Benjamin Sesko stole the headlines with his seventh goal in eight games for the Red Devils, but Fernandes’ pinpoint cross for the Slovenian’s brilliant header was a thing of beauty.

It took Fernandes’ magnificent tally to seven goals and 13 assists in the English top flight since the start of the season. Only Erling Haaland has has a greater goal contribution than the United skipper this term.

The result saw United move to third and ensured Michael Carrick’s unbeaten start as interim manager continued, with the 44-year-old winning six and drawing one of his opening seven matches in charge.

Fernandes assist for Sesko was his 13 of the season in the Premier League (Picture: Getty)

Sesko scored his seventh goal in eight games to seal all three points (Picture: Getty)

‘It was quite sluggish. I didn’t think that they thought they could just turn up but their passing was slow,’ Micah Richards said of United’s performance against Palace on The Rest Is Football podcast.

‘But when Bruno Fernandes gets a grip of that game… you talk about spaces and where he goes, he’s so clever.

‘When he crosses, he goes sort of inside-left channel. He doesn’t just go in the middle, he sees where everyone is, he always uses his full-back or his winger and then they play back to him where he’s got that time to cross.

‘If you actually look at his positioning, he’s always scanning about, where the best places are to be, where he can affect the game.’

Fernandes made the difference after United’s ‘sluggish’ start, says Richards (Picture: Getty)

Richards believes Fernandes has to be considered ‘one of the players of the season’ given his extraordinary level of consistency under Ruben Amorim and now Carrick.

The ex-Manchester City and England defender added: ‘It sounds really simple. Of course, a player who can play No.10 can go everywhere, but if you look at other players’ performances when they’re trying to get on the ball, they’re just trying to get on the ball in between the lines. There’s no space there.

‘But Bruno just goes everywhere, where he can get half a yard to put in a great delivery.

‘He’s an outstanding player, one of the players of the season so far.’

Carrick has the joint-best start after nine games in Premier League history (Picture: Getty)

The Rest Is Football’s host Lineker went one better than Richards, picking out Fernandes as the standout player in the league approaching the business end of the season.

According to Lineker, Declan Rice and Haaland are the only two players who could potentially beat the Portugal international to Player of the Season prize.

‘You see him on the left wing, you see him on the right wing… what a brain! I think he’s the player of the season for me,’ the former England striker explained.

‘I know they’ll probably give it to someone that’s going to win something.

Rice could go on and scoop the prize if Arsenal win the title, says Lineker (Picture: Getty)

‘For me, it’s probably him or maybe Declan Rice if Arsenal go on and manage to clinch the title.

‘I suppose the only other one, if he came back and started banging in all the goals and won City the title, it might be Erling Haaland again.

‘But at the moment, for me, to do what he’s done this season… and he was still the standout player even when they were going through a rotten spell when they were really struggling under Ruben Amorim .

‘I think he’s got such a great footballing brain and technique. What a player, what a player!’

Richards has been blown away by Lammens’ assured start in English football (Picture: Getty)

Before The Rest Is Football team wound down their analysis of United’s comeback win, Richards made sure to highlight what a difference Senne Lammens had made with his ‘calm’ presence between the sticks.

‘Another player we have to applaud is the goalkeeper, Lammens,’ the 2011/12 Premier League winner said of the Belgian goalkeeper, who United signed from Royal Antwerp last summer.

‘You know when the talk is not about the goalkeeper, you know the goalkeeper is doing a good job.

‘He rarely makes mistakes, he keeps things simple. He’s calm.’

United will look to extend their phenomenal run under Carrick when they return to top-flight action away to Newcastle on Wednesday evening.

Alongside Ange Postecoglou, the United interim boss has enjoyed the joint-best start after nine matches by any manager in Premier League history.