Bruno Fernandes stole the headlines after Manchester United’s resounding 3-0 win against Brighton thanks to his two goals against the Seagulls.
The Portuguese playmaker has made a simply stunning start to life at Old Trafford since he completed a £47million move from Sporting Lisbon in January.
After Mason Greenwood’s early opener, Fernandes doubled his side’s advantage with a deflected effort and then scored an exquisite volley to finish off a brilliant team move to bag his sixth goal for the club.
Such was United’s comfort, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was able to sub both Fernandes and Paul Pogba to give the pair some much-needed rest following the 120 minutes the duo played against Norwich on Saturday.
Their removal gave Brighton the confidence to push forward and United’s performance level dropped significantly following Pogba and Fernandes’ departure.
United managed to keep Brighton out as they pushed forward, meaning they’ve kept five clean sheets in their last seven matches.
That was, in no small part, down to the excellence of David De Gea, who responded to his recent critics with a string of fine saves.
The Spaniard’s experienced a drop of form in the last 18 months but he remains one of the finest goalkeepers in world football and he displayed that with a stunning reflex save to keep out Aaron Connolly.
The Irishman unleashed a powerful effort towards goal after a quick turn that could have caught De Gea offguard but the Spaniard produced a stunning save with his left hand to fist the effort over the bar.
Fernandes had only recently been subbed but the Portuguese made his feelings about the save clear as cameras caught his reaction to De Gea’s stop.
Fernandes was first seen open-mouthed at De Gea’s save and initially appeared to be taken aback, but he quickly burst into applause and could be seen shouting at the Spaniard from the sideline.
While reports queued up to give Fernandes praise afterwards, the playmaker showed his class by applauding his team-mates instead.
After praising the competition that the likes of Scott McTominay and Fred provide, Fernandes complimented United’s defence and De Gea in particular for his role in keeping another clean sheet.
‘It’s better because we didn’t concede goals, our defenders and David did an amazing job today,’ said Fernandes.
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