History could be repeating itself with Bruno Fernandes at Manchester United

The likelihood is the Manchester United squad against Tottenham will be the same 20 players who disembarked the team coach at Selhurst Park last week. The line-up is unlikely to be the same.

Alejandro Garnacho was enterprising again off the bench against Twente and Marcus Rashford's confident body language augurs well. Amad, effective in the win at Southampton, has struggled to sustain that performance level.

Matthijs de Ligt's recall is inevitable and so is Kobbie Mainoo's. The four-day gap between matches could extend Christian Eriksen's starting run to five games amid fine form that was abruptly halted by Twente right back Sam Lammers.

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Bruno Fernandes' form is dipping rather than rising. His assist count stands at four, though two were against Barnsley and one was in the Community Shield. Those two one-on-ones he passed up on the opening night against Fulham are sliding doors moments for a player whose carelessness audibly irked United supporters against Twente on Wednesday night.

Fernandes looks understandably fatigued. It has been coming. He made 64 appearances for United and Portugal last season after 74 in 2022-23.

It is particularly unfortunate for Fernandes that the dip has come on the back of a new contract that only extended his expiry date by a year. This happened in March 2022 when his contract was lengthened by an additional year. Fernandes tallied one assist and no goals in United's final nine games of that wretched run-in.

Those renewals were remuneration for his form and captaincy ranking. Rashford and Casemiro were the higher earners until Fernandes scrawled his signature on paperwork in August.

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