Premier League Player of the Week: Kevin De Bruyne

•  His Manchester City side won 8-0 against Watford
•  De Bruyne assisted twice and scored once
•  He had eight key passes in the match 

When a team wins a Premier League match 8-0, it can hardly be surprising that one of the players involved ends up being player of the week. A player from the winning side, of course. After Manchester City thrashed Watford over the weekend, there were so many in sky blue who could have been crowned the round’s best performer. Bernardo Silva scored a hat-trick, but Kevin de Bruyne’s work in attacking midfield was arguably even more impressive. 

The Belgian assisted one of Bernardo Silva’s goals, as well as setting David Silva up for the opener in the first minute. To cap it all off, De Bruyne got a goal of his own right at the end, scoring the eighth to polish off an unbelievable scoreline. 

There could have been even more goals, given how productive De Bruyne was. He had eight key passes in the match, which is simply ridiculous. It was more than double the next closest in this category, teammate Riyad Mahrez.

Key passes in Manchester City vs Watford 

1. Kevin De Bruyne: 8

2. Riyad Mahrez: 4

3. Sergio Agüero: 3

4. Bernardo Silva: 2

5. Angeliño: 2

With so many key passes in that game, it unsurprising that De Bruyne is right at the top of the charts for key passes this Premier League season, with an average of 4.5 per match. 

Key passes per game in the Premier League

1. Kevin De Bruyne: 4.5

2. Trent Alexander-Arnold: 3.8

3. Manuel Lanzini: 3.0

4. Paul Pogba: 2.8

5. Gylfi Sigurdsson: 2.5

De Bruyne was close to perfect in this weekend’s match. While he’ll be frustrated at missing some other chances to score, hitting three of his four shots off target, the playmaker did so much in the creative zone of the pitch that he more than made up for any of the ones that got away.

With 67 passes in total, only Rodri, David Silva and Fernandinho played more passes than he did in this game and nobody played riskier or more penetrating passes than the former Wolfsburg man. 

Most player ratings section in the next morning’s newspapers had a 10/10 for this special talent. And he thoroughly deserved that praise.

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