There were too many opportunities to take away from Manchester United's outstanding second-half display at Tottenham, but one of the most inspiring was really negative.
The Portuguese midfielder wasn't bad in North London, but he wasn't especially eye-catching either.
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He was solid and passed the ball well, but he wasn't among United's top half-dozen players in an easy 3-1 win.
But the fact that United played so well and won so convincingly without Fernandes' definitive contribution is enormously promising and follows more of a trend in recent weeks.
Fernandes hasn't been performing badly lately, but his results haven't been as sharp as they were earlier in the season.
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For the first time since his £47 million transfer from Sporting Lisbon, he is in danger of failing to win the club's player of the month award three months in a row
n reality, Fernandes has only scored two goals and provided two assists in his last 11 games for United.
A pittance for a player who has 36 goals and 22 assists in 70 games for the club.
Although the start of the barren streak coincided with a trio of goalless draws against Real Sociedad, Chelsea, and Crystal Palace, United has recently found a balance without Fernandes' match-defining contributions.
He scored from the penalty spot in wins over Manchester City and Granada, and he set up goals against AC Milan and Brighton at home, but he took no part in nine of United's 13 goals during his quieter spell.
After being accused of being too dependent on an excellent footballer for the first half of the season, United is beginning to demonstrate that Fernandes is more of a luxury maker for them than the be-all and end-all of their attacking aspirations.
United's win on Sunday marked the 17th time this season that they have scored three or more goals in a game.
Fernandes has scored or assisted on at least one goal 14 times.
The first was the Carabao Cup win at Brighton when he was not in the team, and the second was the December win at doomed Sheffield United, but this was the first time United had scored three or more goals against a top-tier opponent without Fernandes' assistance.
It's not shocking that Fernandes has recently started to slow down and exhibit signs of exhaustion.
This season, he has played 94.7 percent of United's Premier League minutes and 82 percent of minutes in all competitions.
This equates to nearly 42 full matches already this season, not counting his international commitments.
Fernandes, who helped United take charge of the Europa League quarter-final tie against Granada on Thursday, has won a rest.
After seeing his team win games without Fernandes' vital contribution, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will hopefully rest a bit better when he does keep his star man on the bench now.
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