I think Man United's Bruno Fernandes has the edge over Arsenal's Martin Odegaard for one reason

Danny Murphy believes Bruno Fernandes is more creative and a better goalscorer than Martin Odegaard despite the Arsenal midfielder being better defensively.

Comparing their Premier League careers, the Manchester United man averages more goals per game, albeit the Norway international has the edge when discounting penalties. Fernandes also shoots more often and more accurately from better positions than Odegaard.

The Portugal international also makes more key passes, and those lead to goals more often than his contemporary in north London. However, he also intercepts and tackles at a higher rate than Murphy gave him credit for, doing so with a greater regularity than Odegaard.

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Asked to choose between the two players on talkSPORT, the pundit prefaced: "It's just preference.

"Mine would depend on who else is in the team, that's how close it is. For example, if you had Declan Rice and [Thomas] Partey behind Fernandes, I'd probably go Fernandes."

Murphy clarified: "It's a close one. I think Bruno will score you more goals, but Odegaard scores as well... Do you know what? I'd be happy with either.

"The one thing Odegaard gives you that Bruno doesn't is better defensive work, Odegaard is better defensively than Bruno. So I think [Mikel] Arteta would pick Odegaard ahead of Bruno even if he had Bruno.

"But for me, I think Bruno has probably just about got the edge on creativity. I'm thinking I wouldn't need his defensive work if I've got two brilliant holding midfielders if I played that way, but there's not much in it."

The two players should have the chance to make their case in early December when United visit Arsenal. Odegaard will hope to be back by then as it will be approaching three months after suffering ankle ligament damage Arteta has called "quite significant".

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