I saw Bruno Fernandes reaction to Arsenal defeat - it showed why Manchester United miss him so much

As the Manchester United team made their way out of the tunnel onto the sun-soaked pitch before kick-off, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial and Tom Heaton emerged from a stairwell in the director's box and took their seats in the back row.

Yet as eyes of supporters quickly turned for a glimpse of the United captain, the Portuguese midfielder had his gaze fixated on the contest in front of him, watching on intently as if he were the club analyst. Fernandes wasn't playing, but this was by no means a day off in his mind.

As the game went on, the 29-year-old fluctuated between his analytic observations to pure unbridled fandom. He was jumping out of his seat more than those sat around him and could not hide his emotions as United wasted a plethora of decent attacking opportunities.

When Alejandro Garnacho got the ball on the edge of the box, Fernandes got off the edge of his seat, and as the effort sailed wide of goal, the club captain fell back into it with his head buried in his hands, unable to disguise his utter frustration. An easy criticism of many modern footballers is the perception that they don't care. One of the few criticisms of Fernandes, if it can be called one, is that he often cares too much. In the dying moments of the game, he was akin to a Stretford Ender, urging his side forward in search of an unlikely equalising goal that was never to come.

Then, as he got ready to head back inside before the full-time whistle he was tapped on the shoulder by a young child who had finally plucked up the courage to meet his hero. With one eye still on the match, Fernandes was happy to sign his shirt and nudged both Martial and Heaton to do so as well, ensuring that even an underwhelming home defeat made one young supporter's dreams come true.

"That last half an hour, decision-making, nobody digging anybody out, making mistakes, falling over, not putting demands on each other," Roy Keane said of United's performance afterwards. The five points he made would all been helped had their captain been on the pitch.

Even from the padded seats of the director's box, there is nobody who puts the demands on the players quite like Fernandes does and there is no other player in the squad they miss quite as much as him. It is no coincidence that in the only two club matches he had ever missed due to injury, United have lost both times and lacked any noticeable leadership on the pitch. They also did so while mustering only four shots on targets and without creating a single ‘big chance’ in the process.

Still wearing a protective guard on his right hand, Fernandes will be desperate to return to the squad against Newcastle in midweek, though with all eyes now on the FA Cup final, it would be understandable if Ten Hag wanted him rested until then instead.

It is often easy to take for granted just how much Fernandes means to this team, his absence twice over the past week has only highlighted just how important he really is.