Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has been named the Premier League’s Player of the Month for March, with Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo picking up the managerial award.
While March’s fixture list may have been truncated because of the international break, it was still a positive one for the Red Devils, who went unbeaten in their two games against Arsenal and Leicester City.
Fernandes was involved in all four goals United scored across the two games, netting twice and setting up another pair to take his all-time tally for Premier League assists up to 50.
The Portugal international won this prize four times throughout 2020 but has now added a fifth crown, which sees him climb up to third when it comes to most awards won in the division’s history.
With five victories to his name, Fernandes sits alongside Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie. Steven Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo are tied on six, and the trio of Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero and Mohamed Salah lead the way on seven.
March Player of the Month nominees
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Anthony Elanga (Nottingham Forest)
Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)
Nikola Milenkovic (Nottingham Forest)
Declan Rice (Arsenal)
Jan Paul van Hecke (Brighton & Hove Albion)
March Manager of the Month nominees
Ruben Amorim (Manchester United)
Fabian Hurzeler (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Nuno Espirito Santo (Nottingham Forest)
Meanwhile, Forest boss Nuno picks up his third Manager of the Month award of the season.
Forest continued their unlikely push to qualify for next season’s Champions League with a huge 1-0 win over Manchester City, before comfortably dispatching of relegation-threatened Ipswich Town to cap off a perfect March.
It is the seventh award win of Nuno’s career, moving him into sixth on the all-time standings alongside Mikel Arteta and Rafa Benitez.
Only Arteta (2022/23), Pep Guardiola (2017/18) and Jurgen Klopp (2019/20) have ever won the award four times in a single season, with Klopp ultimately going on to win five.
Source: 90mins
