For the second time this season, Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes failed to convert from the penalty spot.
Thanks to a comfortable save from Brentford’s Caoimhín Kelleher on Saturday lunchtime, Fernandes has now spurned six Premier League spot kicks during his five-and-a-half years in the division. Over this same time period, no player in England’s top flight has missed more than five.
Fernandes’s tame effort came midway through the second half of United’s limp 3–1 defeat to Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium. A clumsy tug from Nathan Collins on Bryan Mbeumo in the 71st minute presented the visitors with the chance to move level after Igor Thiago’s first-half brace. Almost five minutes elapsed before Fernandes was allowed to address the ball. The delay, a consequence of VAR and devilishly timed Brentford substitutions, evidently took its toll as Kelleher was able to rebuff an attempt low to his left-hand side.
The former Liverpool goalkeeper is a fearsome presence from 12 yards—Kelleher has saved an impressive four of the seven penalties he has faced in his senior career—but it represents a worrying pattern for Fernandes.
This season alone, the Portuguese playmaker has missed two spot kicks—as many as the rest of the Premier League combined.
Since Fernandes’s debut in the competition in February 2020, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been wayward with a surprisingly high five attempts, a tally matched by former Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrović while West Ham United’s James Ward-Prowse, who is far more reliable from free kicks, has squandered four spot kicks.
