Toby Collyer made his first appearance under Ruben Amorim against Arsenal and took his chance with both hands. The youngster was introduced to the game with nine minutes of normal time remaining and deserves praise for the maturity he demonstrated under immense pressure.

The experienced and battle-tested Casemiro was available on the bench at the Emirates, but Amorim selected Collyer to replace Kobbie Mainoo and wasn't let down by the midfielder.

Collyer averaged a defensive action every 6.5 minutes and wasn’t dribbled past once. The 21-year-old embraced the occasion when it was possible to be overawed, seemed to cover every blade of grass and proved to United's new head coach that he can provide value to the squad.

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Erik ten Hag was a huge admirer of Collyer, he has been championed by academy staff and it would have been peculiar for Amorim not to give the youngster a roll of the dice at some stage.

Did anyone expect Amorim to throw Collyer into the pressure cooker, though? Probably not. United were down to 10-men and defending for their lives against Arsenal when Collyer was substituted on, which should be seen as a glowing endorsement for what Amorim thinks about him.

The fact Casemiro was overlooked for Collyer shouldn't go unnoticed because he was the safe option sitting on the bench but Amorim believed Collyer was the right man for the job.

Collyer was given his Premier League debut at the beginning of September against Liverpool, coming on for Casemiro when he was hooked at half-time following a dismal 45 minutes.

Liverpool hammered United 3-0 and Collyer won't look back on his league debut with fondness, but he won three tackles, made three recoveries, won seven duels and completed all of his attempted dribbles, which meant he could be happy with his individual performance.

It felt like there was a changing of the guard and Collyer was Casemiro's replacement, however, the young pretender picked up a small injury afterwards and there was life in the old dog.

Collyer was ruled out for over a month but returned to fitness at the end of November. He was then welcomed back into the first-team fold and resumed his progress against Arsenal.

There were some outstanding individual performances produced by United's players on Sunday. It was a heroic effort to play for over an hour with just 10 men and Altay Bayindir and Joshua Zirkzee deservedly made the biggest headlines, but Collyer's display shouldn't go under the radar.

It was the type of performance that confirmed his potential and it was no surprise to see him bust a lung for the team, as his running statistics have blown academy staff away at Carrington.

In August, a source said Collyer 'freakish' running stats in training that are only bettered by Bruno Fernandes and his running stats during his time at Brighton were also off the charts.

Collyer has consistently ran the most in games during his career but he is more than just a workhorse, as he can read play brilliantly and has guile. The youngster's engine allows him to get him around the pitch and he intelligently uses the ball, which is why he was so useful at a crucial point against Arsenal.

The Worthing-born lad should be delighted with his contribution at the weekend and will be hopeful of making his first start - which would be deserved - for Amorim in the near future.

Collyer was on the cusp of a major breakthrough before he picked up an injury in October and it was pleasing for him to send a reminder that he can cut it at the top level.

He has been thrown into games against Liverpool and Arsenal and hasn't looked out of place. Collyer should be proud of his progress and he will be hungry for more opportunities.