A host of West Ham United teammates past and present have urged Mateus Fernandes to try his luck from range more often under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Given that the soon-to-be Portugal international is one of the Premier League’s top ‘XG overachievers’ for 2025/26, Lucas Paqueta, Crysencio Summerville and co probably have a point.
Speaking after thwacking a Goal of the Season contender past an unusually-helpless Robin Roefs when West Ham United beat Sunderland 3-1 in January, Fernandes revealed Paqueta, Crysencio Summerville and Pablo Felipe had encouraged him to shoot from distance with far more regularity.
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When you consider that his three Hammers goals have come from an ‘expected goals’ total of just 1.25, you can see where they were coming from.
West Ham United’s Mateus Fernandes should shoot more often
Mateus Fernandes actually ranks eleventh across the entirety of the Premier League when it comes to over-performing his XG.
Antoine Semenyo tops the charts; a scandalous 15 goals from an XG of 6.64. Harry Wilson and Morgan Rogers have scored their fair share of screamers too.
Mateus Fernandes of West Ham United celebrates scoring his team's third goal with teammate Jarrod Bowen
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The Fulham and Aston Villa stars also sit inside the top eight, alongside Bruno Guimaraes, Jaidon Anthony, Viktor Gyokeres, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, and – largely because of his long-range lob against Arsenal – Richarlison.
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Cristian Romero completes the set.
He, like Tottenham teammate, Richarlison boosted his numbers with a quite outrageous effort; that overhead kick in the dying seconds of a 2-2 draw with Newcastle.
Fernandes’ XG over-performance of 1.75 places him ahead of Golden Boot-elect Erling Haaland, plus Phil Foden, Igor Thiago, Bruno Fernandes and West Ham teammate Jarrod Bowen.
Crysencio Summerville wants Fernandes to shoot more often
Considering that Fernandes averages less than a shot a game at the Hammers, one wonders how many goals he would contribute to the cause if he let fly more often.
“It was unbelievable! It was my first goal from outside of the box, so I’m very happy,” Fernandes told reporters after that Sunderland blast. “[Long-range shooting] is a thing I started to learn on the training ground. I started to do it in training sessions, so I need to try more in the games because I can shoot well.
“It was good for me and it was good for the team as well.
“Everyone actually, Summerville, Pablo, Lucas, they said to me to shoot! But in my position, I try to give the better chance for them and then they do the work to score the goals.
“But yeah, it was a good point for me today. It gave me confidence for the next games and I’ll try to shoot more.”
Ex-Sporting CP and Southampton ace Fernandes scored a first career header in the 2-1 defeat by Leeds in October. His other West Ham goal – a wicked shot from a tight angle against Aston Villa – was pretty impressive, yet not quite up to the spectacular standards of that Sunderland screamer.
And, hey, the tactic of taking more shots has not worked out too badly for Crysencio Summerville…
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