Why Bruno Fernandes knew Joshua Zirkzee would deliver for Manchester United vs Arsenal

Captain Bruno Fernandes was convinced the script had been written for Joshua Zirkzee to score Manchester United's decisive penalty in Sunday's FA Cup third round shootout victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

United progressed to the fourth round of the competition with a 5-3 win on spot-kicks after the contest had finished 1-1 after 120 minutes. United dispatched each of their first four penalties and knew that if Zirkzee converted their fifth effort they would secure their place in the next round, after Altay Bayindir had earlier denied Kai Havertz. The Dutchman made no mistake, stroking the ball home with an air of confidence to send the 8,000 United fans into raptures.

Just 13 days earlier, Zirkzee was booed off the pitch by some supporters when replaced in the first half of United's 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United at Old Trafford, meaning he deserved credit for having the confidence to step up and take a pressure penalty.

United's coaching staff had selected the former Bologna man as the fifth penalty taker, meaning Fernandes felt everything had fallen into place perfectly for the 23-year-old to be hero.

"The script was already there for a long time," Fernandes told Sky Sports. "You know, when when you are a good person, when you do the right things, you can have bad moments but at the end everything will come through strong.

"It was a decision by the staff to pick the five players to have the penalty and they put Josh last. And the only thing that came into my mind was to tell the players that the script is done.

"So everything is done since that moment against Newcastle that prepared us to, in this moment, give Josh his moment and his credit and his flowers.

"We can talk about whatever people want to talk