Manchester United winger Antony missed the club’s 3-0 Premier League win over Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday because of an injury.
Antony joined United’s injury ranks ahead of the trip to Merseyside with what the Manchester Evening News summarised as a “knock”. The Brazilian wasn’t considered fit enough to play and therefore didn’t even take up a place on the bench.
He joins Casemiro, Rasmus Hojlund, Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez and others out of action, although the assessment doesn’t appear to be a serious one.
Having started United‘s first four Premier League games of the season, albeit without a goal or assist to his name, and a near automatic starter when fit during his debut campaign, Antony has struggled to reclaim a regular place since being reintegrated into the squad following a period of leave.
The former Ajax star was given permission to spend several weeks back home in Brazil during and after the September international break when he was accused of assault by multiple women. Antony has strongly denied the allegations but the matter is ongoing.
United boss Erik ten Hag publicly backed Antony earlier this month to rediscover his form.
“That is also team, first, and the team is not playing well when we don’t bring him the balls and I am also responsible for that,” the United boss said at a press conference prior to beating Fulham.
“But obviously, there was also a lot of noise and that dropped his levels. He can do better but all the players can do better. Antony is also a fighter, he has the confidence, he is brave and I am confident he will bring the performance, that he is the right player for us.”
Last season, Antony showed flashes of quality that had made the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea all take an interest in him, notably finding the net in each of his first three Premier League appearances and scoring the goal that saw United knock Barcelona out of the Europa League. But he was too inconsistent, while injuries also contributed to his campaign tailing off.
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