Rangnick explains Bruno's best position

Most regularly used as no.10 so far in his career at the club, Fernandes has played as part of a midfield three in the last two games. The Portuguese international has scored twice and assisted a further two goals in two excellent displays.

Having initially trialled a 4-2-2-2 formation with United, Rangnick has made some adjustments in the past couple of weeks and it has paid off, with improved showings against Aston Villa and, most recently, Brentford.

The Reds ran out 3-1 winners in West London on Wednesday night, casting a poor first-half performance into the shadows with a rampant display of second-half scoring.

Fernandes was a key part of that, and Rangnick has explained why he’ll keep playing our no.18 deeper in this side.

“I think most of the top teams in Europe and also in England play in a 4-3-3,” Rangnick outlined in his post-match press conference.

“I think for him, it’s better than being pinned to a no.10 position because he can then make himself available in different areas of the pitch, not only in the centre.

“For me, he’s not a wing player, but I think in this position, he can find the spaces himself, he can sniff the moments in which areas we have to play the ball for him, and this position as an 8 is almost perfect for him.”

It’s certainly worked in the last couple of games. Starting from a deeper position has allowed Fernandes to carry the ball more regularly, open up space in front of him which United’s pacey forwards can exploit.

His first assist against Brentford saw him drive forward into the box before laying on a simple tap-in for Mason Greenwood. Some 15 minutes later, he gave Marcus Rashford the right ball on the right side of the box, allowing the Englishman to thrash home United’s third goal of the evening.