🦁 Premier League Player of the Week: A gem unearthed | OneFootball

The FA Cup quarter-finals meant we had just four fixtures in the Premier League this weekend, but it was an interesting round of games nonetheless.

And our Player of the Week is...

Rodrigo Muniz (Fulham)

There was little fanfare surrounding Rodrigo Muniz's arrival at Fulham in the summer of 2021.

The young Brazilian joined the Cottagers from Flamengo during a time when Covid regulations dictated players from that part of the world still had to quarantine upon arrival in Europe, and he enjoyed a solid if unremarkable debut season as Marco Silva's side earned promotion from the Championship.

Muniz remained in the Championship last season, on loan at Middlesbrough, for whom he scored just two goals in 17 appearances. There was little indication that he was about to take the Premier League by storm.

However, Aleksandar Mitrović's departure to the Saudi Pro League last summer saw Muniz move up the pecking order upon his return to Craven Cottage.

And though the season began slowly for the 22-year-old, since February he has been in sensational scoring form, with his brace in Saturday's impressive 3-0 victory over Tottenham taking his tally to seven Premier League strikes this campaign, all of which have come since the start of last month.

Only Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (six goals) has come close to matching that output in that time period, making Muniz the league's most in-form striker, and his performances have reportedly drawn admiring glances from new Brazil coach Dorival Junior.

As explained here, he'd also make a very cost-effective addition to your Fantasy Premier League team...

Despite being a few inches shorter, Muniz isn't too dissimilar to ex-Fulham striker Mitrović. He holds the ball up well, wins most of his duels and is turning into a real fox in the box.

Take his first goal against Spurs at the weekend for example, and the way he peeled away from the defenders marking him to create space for Antonee Robinson's cross, before calmly slotting away.

His second goal of the day was a much scruffier affair, when he was in the right place at the right time to bundle a rebound off the post over the line. Those are the sort of goals proper strikers love to score though, and full marks for the quick reaction time to get to the loose ball.

Muniz has now found the net in each of his last four home games for Fulham, and his team have won four of the last six matches in which he has scored.

The west Londoners look to have found their Mitrović replacement, and Brazil's strikers should probably be watching over their shoulders too.