Ruben Amorim has confirmed Bruno Fernandes remains Manchester United's penalty-taker, despite the skipper failing from the spot against Fulham and Brentford this season.
The Portugal international uncharacteristically passed up opportunities to score in the away fixtures in London, missing the target at Craven Cottage and then having an effort pushed away by Caoimhin Kelleher at the Gtech Community Stadium.
However, our captain did crucially keep his nerve to net an injury-time winner in the home victory over Burnley in August.
It is also worth noting he converted both of his penalties with aplomb in the shootout against Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup.
The no.8 has 23 from 29 attempts in the Premier League and nobody has scored more than him for United in the division's history.
Amorim has backed his fellow countryman to retain the responsibility, even though there are other options within the squad. The head coach believes Bruno will be ready to step up to the plate, if required at Liverpool on Sunday, and show his usual composure from 12 yards.
That said, the last penalty we scored at Anfield came from Robin van Persie way back in the 2012/13 title-winning campaign. That was only our third there since the Second World War, after Denis Irwin (1999) and Roger Byrne (1953), but if referee Michael Oliver does point to the spot at the weekend, Fernandes will be happy to front up to the challenge.
When asked if he might change taker, Amorim replied: “No. I know that it's not easy for him [Bruno] but I think he has 70 penalties, I think, and he misses like nine.
”Two with me so I'm really annoyed with that!
“But he's really confident. He's training [on] the penalties, he's trying to understand that people are watching the way he scores the penalties.
”So he'll be ready. We have more guys also to score a penalty if he needs.
“[But] he’s the main taker. He scores a lot of goals, penalty is passing this moment. We have other options. Again, we can change, but I'm fully confident that Bruno will sort that out.”