The worse news for Antony just hours before the big game

After weeks of coming under heavy scrutiny at Manchester United for his performance, summer record signing Antony Santos finally began to silence the noises with top performance in Manchester United's last three games. His improvement was well acknowledged by Erik Ten Hag.

The Dutchman manager after the Reading game said Antony was "very direct and created a lot of action". It was the best compliment Erik Ten Hag had given the winger in recent weeks after being unsatisfied with his outputs in past games, which was glaring against Arsenal.

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Antony put in a man-of-the-match performance against Reading in the FA Cup and even won the MOTM award despite Casemiro bagging a brace in the 3-1 win. The 22-year-old provided the assist for Casemiro's first goal in the game on the night and sadly couldn't get on the score sheet himself.

Prior to the Reading game, Antony was also crucial to United's Carabao Cup semifinal win against Nottingham Forest last week, creating the opportunity that lead to Wout Weghorst's first goal for United since joining in the winter transfer window.

Will Antony be dropped?

But Erik Ten Hag's latest team news confirmation could hit Antony hard. The Ree Devils manager has confirmed the return of Jadon Sancho to full club action and is expected to play in tonight's Carabao Cup semifinal final tie against Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford. This will be Sancho's first match since October and could see in-form Antony fall down the pecking order for this game and coming weeks.