Bruno Fernandes becomes first Dream Team midfielder to reach 200 points – yet he’s half as popular as Kevin De Bruyne

RARELY have a team capitulated in such a short space of time as Fulham did at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The visitors were leading with a quarter of the game still to play when Willian (£3.2m) was sent off for a handball on the line.

Amid the VAR deliberations, Marco Silva was shown a red card for his complaints before Aleksandar Mitrovic (£3.8m) was dismissed for a brainless shove on referee Chris Kavanagh, making it a trio of reds in a mad minute that ultimately cost the Cottagers a place in the FA Cup semi-final.

Erik ten Hag’s side rallied to win 3-1 with Bruno Fernandes (£6.2m) being the main beneficiary from a Dream Team perspective.

The Portugal international converted the resulting penalty from said handball, added the cherry on top with a thumping stoppage-time strike, and claimed the Star Man award to bank 18 points when all was said and done.

A monumental head lossGETTY

And so it proved to be the 28-year-old’s biggest single-game haul of the campaign so far, one that moved him onto 200 points overall.

Fernandes is the first midfielder to become a double centurion this term with his closest rival, Kevin De Bruyne (£7.6m), now 20 points adrift.

Manchester United’s No8 has been on a tear of late, registering 80 points across the last seven Game Weeks.

What’s really interesting is that Dream Team gaffers still prefer the aforementioned De Bruyne by a considerable degree.

The Belgian playmaker is over twice as popular as Fernandes, as is Bukayo Saka (£5.3m).

Phil Foden (£5m) and Martin Odegaard (£3.7m) also feature in more teams than the game’s leading midfielder, whose ownership reads 19.4% currently.

The Arsenal and Manchester City assets remain excellent options of course but it feels as if Fernandes’ supremacy isn’t being properly recognised.

GETTYDream Team’s top midfielder[/caption]

Not only that, it’s a great time to back Man United assets more generally as the Red Devils remain in contention for the FA Cup and Europa League having already lifted the Carabao Cup.

These extracurricular pursuits will ensure the Old Trafford residents are among the busiest set of players for the remainder of the campaign – more fixtures equals more points.

Marcus Rashford (£6.7m), David de Gea (£3.9m) and Luke Shaw (£4.4m) are all superb options and Fernandes deserves to be mentioned in the same breath.

The latter may be prone to the odd meltdown when things aren’t going his way but his talent can’t be denied.

He has ten goals and 12 assists to his name in all competitions and no player has earned more 7+ ratings at this stage of the season.

Fernandes has TEN fixtures scheduled for April once the international break is complete!