Five Knee-Jerk Reactions to Premier League 2026-27 Matchday 9 Analyst

We round up the weekend'sPremier Leagueaction by jumping to five conclusions based on a single round of matches. Every week here on Opta Analyst, we briefly abandon our usual approach of diving deep into the data and instead come to a load of conclusions based on a single round of Premier League fixtures.

Will any of our latest five knee-jerk reactions hold up in the weeks to come, or will they be disproven as the season goes on? It's Time for Man Utd to Move on From Bruno Fernandes Life comes at you fast.

In the second half of last season, Bruno Fernandes could do no wrong. Once Ruben Amorim left and Fernandes was able to return to his natural position as United's number 10, his form went through the roof.

Across the 17 Premier League games Michael Carrick was in charge for last season, Fernandes recorded 17 goal involvements. Thirteen of them were assists, and he went on to set a new Premier League record for most assists in a single season (21).

His influence was crucial in United finishing third, and he would unsurprisingly win a host of individual awards. But 2026-27 has been a comparative dumpster fire for both the team and Fernandes.

Restored to the starting XI for Saturday's defeat to Chelsea having sat out the previous week's defeat at home to Bournemouth after publicly criticising the coaching staff's tactics, Fernandes went another game without a telling contribution. He's now gone eight games in all competitions without a goal or an assist; if he fires blanks again on Tuesday against Roma, he'll equal his longest run for United without a goal involvement (nine games, February-April 2022).

The fact this run has coincided with Fernandes finding himself at the centre of a storm may be only coincidental, but it could also be fate. Everything good comes to an end eventually, and this could be the universe telling everyone that United and Fernandes need to go their separate ways at the next opportunity.

For a long time they were good for each other. That now seems far less certain.

Bournemouth Are Better Without Alex Scott This is pretty knee-jerk, even for this column, but the timing of Bournemouth's improvement has been intriguing. Alex Scott has largely been outstanding for Bournemouth and looked good for England too during the last international break.