What Bruno Fernandes said to Tom Heaton before Manchester United goal vs Arsenal

Bruno Fernandes marked his first game as permanent Man United captain by scoring the opening goal in the 2-0 win over Arsenal.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes admitted that he told goalkeeper Tom Heaton to try and exploit Arsenal's high line during Saturday night's 2-0 win at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

United posted a third successive pre-season win thanks to first-half goals from Fernandes and Jadon Sancho. The Reds then won the penalty shootout that followed the 90 minutes 5-3, converting all of their five spot-kicks.

United, despite deploying a different crop of outfield players in each half for the third game running, were good value for their win, dominating the game for long spells. They rode their luck in the opening exchanges but it wasn't long before they settled into a rhythm against their Premier League counterparts.

Fernandes opened the scoring on the half-hour mark, turning home a fierce left-footed drive from distance. The Portuguese ace received a pass inside from Kobbie Mainoo, who had been picked out by a long punt upfield from Heaton, who played the full 90 minutes.

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"I was speaking with Tom and there was a lot of space in behind of them," Fernandes told MUTV. "The rotation between me, Mason [Mount] and Kobbie was good, and we found ourselves in different positions.

"But at the same time, every position was occupied. That was good to create the goal."

After Sancho doubled United's lead just seven minutes later, the Reds were in full control of the contest. They played with purpose and had a swagger to their play at times.

Though pre-season results count for nothing, Fernandes believes United are benefitting from Erik ten Hag's attention to detail and rigorous training ground demands.

Fernandes added: "We know how the manager is, he takes care of all the details. It is pretty tough to train with him, but this is the result.

"We have to understand that it will be tough, it is pre-season, there is a lot of training and a lot of work to do. This is our second season [under Ten Hag] so we have to get better and better."

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