Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has revealed that Antony remains in contention to feature in next weekend’s FA Cup final against Manchester City, despite initial reports claiming he had suffered a serious ankle injury. The Brazil international was taken off on a stretcher after just 29 minutes of Thursday’s comprehensive 4-1 win over Chelsea when he went down under an innocuous challenge from Trevoh Chalobah.
Ten Hag conceded he feared the worst initially, but subsequent scans have revealed that the damage may not be as bad as first feared. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s final Premier League match of the season against Fulham, Ten Hag told MUTV: ‘We’ve all seen how he came off and didn’t look great. But the first assessment is not too bad and a good opportunity he is available for the Cup final next week.’
The United manager made significant changes to his starting line-up with next weekend’s Wembley showpiece in mind, with Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Christian Eriksen and Anthony Martial all dropping to the bench, while club captain Harry Maguire was afforded a rare Premier League start. Marcus Rashford, who missed last weekend’s win over Bournemouth through illness and started the victory over Chelsea on the bench, started up front with his manager claiming he is capable of becoming a 40 goal a season striker.
He said: ‘With Marcus, there’s a lot of room for improvement in his game and I’m convinced he could score even more. I think when you take for instance the last ten games he didn’t score so many goals, I think only two or three. We supported him where we could with the way of play, but also in his mental mindset. So we are happy with that but yeah, we have to push for more. I’m sure he’s capable of scoring 40 goals in the season and to make also for him the next step.’