"It is ridiculous" - Dean Ashton blasts Manchester United's decision to give penalty duties to Bruno Fernandes over Cristiano Ronaldo

Former West Ham United striker Dean Ashton has criticized Manchester United for making Bruno Fernandes their primary penalty-kick taker ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. Ashton believes that Fernandes’ miss against Arsenal could end up costing the Red Devils a top-four finish in the Premier League this season.

Manchester United traveled to Arsenal for their mouth-watering Premier League clash on Saturday afternoon. The visitors went behind after only three minutes of play with Nuno Tavares’ sumptuous strike.

Things went from bad to worse for them in the 32nd minute when Bukayo Saka confidently dispatched his penalty. Fortunately, Manchester United got themselves a lifeline just a couple of minutes later, courtesy of Ronaldo’s tidy finish from point-blank range.

12 minutes into the second half, the visitors had a glorious chance to make it all square after winning a rightful penalty. Unfortunately, spot-kick taker Bruno Fernandes failed to cover himself in glory and ended up hitting the bottom-left post.

Ashton was left infuriated by United's decision to give spot-kick duties to Fernandes, claiming it should have been Ronaldo taking the penalty on Sunday. On talkSPORT, the 38-year-old said:

“You have to say: why is he taking it? Ronaldo is off the back of a hat-trick, he scored in the first-half, he’s full of confidence.

“You’ve got a confident record-breaking goalscorer on the pitch who has just scored and is playing well in the game, and Bruno wasn’t. To me, it’s a ridiculous decision and in the end it could cost them the top-four.”

Following Sunday’s defeat, Manchester United find themselves in sixth position after 34 matchdays. They trail fourth-placed Arsenal by six points despite playing a game more than the Gunners.

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Cristiano Ronaldo was Manchester United’s best player at the Emirates Stadium

Coming off the back of an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Liverpool, Man United needed to produce a much-improved performance to win maximum points in London. Except for Ronaldo and Matic, no United player turned up for the Premier League classic.

Not only did the Portuguese scored his 100th Premier League goal from Matic’s lobbed ball, but he was also constantly trying to make things happen. He made menacing runs, provided two key passes, and even attempted a tackle to help out his struggling teammates.

Unfortunately, most of his teammates could not keep up, causing the five-time Ballon d’Or winner to endure another disappointing defeat.