Alvaro Fernandez sends message to Manchester United as defender suffers fresh injury scare

Manchester United youngster Alvaro Fernandez provided a classy assist to help Preston North End beat arch-rivals Blackpool 3-1 at Deepdale on Saturday.

North End recorded their third win in their last four Championship outings with a comfortable victory over their Lancashire rivals, maintaining their faint hopes of a late play-off charge. Fernandez, who joined the Lilywhites on a season-long loan deal back in July, created the third goal of the game, charging up the left wing and playing the ball inside for fellow loanee Tom Cannon to pass the ball home from just inside the penalty area.

Fernandez, who will have aspirations of forcing his way into the United first-team squad at some point in the future, has now registered five assists in all competitions this season, three of which have come in the Championship. He has made 35 appearances in total so far.

READ MORE: United's next six fixtures compared with Premier League rivals

Elsewhere in the Championship, Amad stepped off the bench as Sunderland drew 0-0 with table-toppers Burnley at Turf Moor on Friday evening. He came within a whisker of breaking the deadlock, seeing a deflected effort strike the crossbar.

Although Sunderland did not do quite enough to claim all three points, they became the first side to stop Burnley from scoring at home this season, meaning it was a solid result for them.

Also in the Championship, Ethan Laird was forced off with a fresh injury problem on his return to action as QPR's torrid run of form continued with a 1-0 defeat away at bottom club Wigan Athletic. He had been sidelined since February and had to go off after 79 minutes, but boss Gareth Ainsworth does not believe it is anything too serious.

He said: "I think he's OK after a