Bruno Fernandes believes being prepared to take risks with his creative play has been crucial to his stunning statistics since joining Manchester United.The Man Utd captain has racked up 19 Premier League assists in 2025-26 and now has four matches to equal, or potentially break, the single-season record which is jointly held by competition greats Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.Those 19 top-flight assists have remarkably come in a stretch of just 24 matches, as he did not create any goals in his first seven league appearances this season, with the first of his campaign not coming until the away clash against Liverpool on October 19.And it is in the return match against fierce rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday where Fernandes will have his first chance to make history."The position I play requires more risk than the other ones," Fernandes said in an exclusive interview with Opta Analyst."When you play in a team where you probably have to be the one to try and create chances more often than other players, you are going to end up missing more opportunities and more chances than the others."So it is about putting the stats together with the eye test to understand why you missed that shot or a pass."If I miss a pass trying to make something happen by playing the ball forward, I don’t mind it. "Because if I don’t take that risk, I might miss eight out of 10, but I will get at least one right, and we win the game by that."The data backs up Fernandes' analysis. While he often features prominently in 'possession lost' statistics, which is common for many of the game's leading creative players, his numbers in so many other game-changing metrics put him in elite territory.Since his United debut in February 2020, Fernandes has racked up 70 assists, putting him top of the Premier League charts, two ahead of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (68). Fernandes has also scored 70 times in the competition, meaning it is only Salah (193) who has been involved in more goals overall than the United stalwart (140) over that period.Incredibly, with 114 chances created this season, Fernandes has set up nearly twice as many opportunities as any other player in the Premier League. He is 52 ahead of Declan Rice and Dominik Szoboszlai (both 61).The gap between Fernandes and the rest is even wider when going back to his competition debut, with the Portugal international creating 652 opportunities for his team-mates, which is 220 more than any other player (De Bruyne is next, on 432).In terms of this campaign, he is already just five off his all-time seasonal record of 119 chances created, which he set in 2022-23.Opta Analyst's interview with Fernandes breaks down a huge range of his individual data, including highlighting how the 31-year-old has adapted his game.It delved into how Fernandes has developed into an even greater creative outlet for United, while becoming less of a direct goalscoring threat."It is about space," added Fernandes. "Over the years, teams know you better, so they don’t want to allow you as much space [in goalscoring areas] as they probably would have allowed me when I first came to the club because they didn’t know me as much then."A heavily scrutinised change in the Premier League over recent seasons has been the growing prominence and importance of set pieces.Much has been made of Fernandes' stellar connection with veteran Brazil midfielder Casemiro, who has enjoyed his best league campaign in front of goal, scoring nine times.Six of those goals have been assisted by Fernandes – the most prolific partnership in the Premier League this season – while five of those assists have come from set-piece deliveries.That highlights how Fernandes has developed into one of the best set-piece takers, and he is nearing another Premier League record in that statistical category. With 10 assists from set-pieces in 2025-26, he is just one away from Steven Gerrard’s record of 11 set-piece assists in a single campaign, which the Liverpool icon recorded back in 2013-14.Fernandes' excellent delivery has turned United into one of the most threatening teams from set plays, and only Premier League leaders Arsenal (22) have scored more non-penalty set-piece goals than Michael Carrick's side (20) this season. It has been a huge personal focus for Fernandes, and taking set-pieces in the modern game is a skill that he feels is much more difficult than many observers realise. Eight of his corners this season have led to a goal and Fernandes added to Opta Analyst: "When we talk about set-pieces and needing to hit the ball in the right space, it is sometimes harder than a standard pass."The way corners and free-kicks have been [changing], my team-mates [now] ask me and demand where they want the ball. "Sometimes I'm going to get it right, sometimes not so much and [it is different now]. I will tell you that five years ago, I would go to take a corner and just put the ball into the middle of the box and it was 'let’s see if someone gets it'."Nowadays, I have to hit a spot, so sometimes it is even harder to get an assist from a set-piece than it actually is in open play."Man Utd have the chance to clinch a top-five spot and a place in next season's Champions League this weekend.They are third in the table and 11 points clear of sixth-placed Brighton going into the final four games.After the crunch Liverpool clash, their season concludes with fixtures against Sunderland, Nottingham Forest and Brighton.