Erik ten Hag gives verdict on Antony after his best Manchester United performance

Erik ten Hag says he is pleased with the progress Antony has made at Manchester United and the way in which he has ‘stepped up’ across the campaign.

The 24-year-old was United’s best player in their chaotic 4-3 defeat to Chelsea on Thursday night and played a key role in all three of the goals that they scored at Stamford Bridge.

Antony produced a world-class assist to set-up Alejandro Garancho’s second goal of the match and worked selflessly for the team with key contributions to their first two goals as well. It was he who chased a loose ball down the right wing to force the error for United’s opening goal, and his clever cross field pass that carved open the Chelsea defence in the build-up to Bruno Fernandes’ equaliser.

A lot has been made of the Brazilian international and the enormous £85 million price-tag paid for him, but he was unfortunate to be on the losing side in midweek.

Antony repaid the faith his manager had shown to select him over Marcus Rashford from the start, and Ten Hag was pleased with what he saw from arguably his most controversial signing.

“We dominated the game, especially the wide players were a danger, Garnacho, Antony,” he told reporters after the loss. “He was very good.

“I said it already before, the last weeks, he's progressing, you see it in training, you see it when he came in against Liverpool, also against Brentford, he's stepping up, he's understanding the message, he's progressing, so we are pleased with that.”