What Manchester United wing-backs did vs Arsenal suggests players are listening to Ruben Amorim

It was Tottenham who were famously called "the Harry Kane team" by Pep Guardiola in October 2017, a comment that didn't go down well with Spurs, even if their dependence on their star striker was obvious.

It's four weeks until Guardiola brings Manchester City across town to Old Trafford for the final derby of the season and he might be tempted to revisit one of his more iconic lines from English football. Nobody at United could dispute the idea that this is "the Bruno Fernandes team" at the moment.

The surprise on Thursday was that they managed to score a goal that the captain wasn't at the heart of. He had a central part to play in their last seven before Joshua Zirkzee's strike in San Sebastian and returned to the lead role against Arsenal.

United had barely offered an attacking threat in another desperately dull first half when Fernandes stood over a free-kick 25 yards from goal. Alejandro Garnacho had won it with a rare driving run and Fernandes stepped up to send a dipping shot over the wall and beyond the diving David Raya.

It was the 30-year-old's 91st goal for the club, to add to the 79 assists in 275 appearances. Where would they be without him? Given where they are with him, it doesn't really bear thinking about.

Fernandes has now scored two goals from free-kicks in the last five games. His set-pieces created Harry Maguire's winners against Leicester City and Ipswich and two more deliveries in that game against the Tractor Boys created scrappy goals.

His best goal of the recent run came against Fulham in the FA Cup, a wonderful left-footed strike, but United's reliance on him of late is for dead ball prowess and that has come about because they are creating so little from open play.

They hadn't laid a glove on