Ten Hag provides major update on injured Man Utd star who could be ‘available’ for FA Cup final | OneFootball

Head coach Erik ten Hag has revealed that Man Utd winger Antony could be available for next weekend’s FA Cup final against rivals Manchester City.

Antony’s season looked to be over when he was forced off during Man Utd’s 4-1 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford on Thursday.

The Brazilian was visibly distressed over his injury and Ten Hag said post-match that it is “difficult” to predict whether he will be fit for the FA Cup final on June 3:  “It’s difficult to say. Let’s wait for 24 hours and then we’ll know more.”

Ten Hag was able to provide a more positive update on Antony prior to United’s game against Fulham. He thinks the winger has a “good opportunity” to face Man City at Wembley.

“We’ve all seen how he came off and didn’t look great,” Ten Hag told MUTV.

“But the first assessment is not too bad and a good opportunity he [Antony] is available for the cup final next week.”

Ahead of United’s last Premier League game of the season at home against Fulham, he added: “We want to have fresh players, win this game, secure the third place and we can match a record with 27 wins [at Old Trafford in one season] – there was only one time in the big history of this magnificent club.”

Man Utd will be up against it against Man City, who are vying to do the treble. Club legend Wayne Rooney thinks his former club should “try something similar to a tactic Jose Mourinho deployed at Chelsea” to get the better of Pep Guardiola’s men.

“My strategy would be to go the other way and ask City to do something different,” Rooney told The Times.

“I’d try something similar to a tactic Jose Mourinho sometimes deployed in his first spell at Chelsea, where he would get the likes of Joe Cole, Arjen Robben and Damien Duff to take up ‘half’ positions where they didn’t come all the way back and defend when Chelsea were out of possession but instead cheat a bit and wait higher up the pitch in areas from which they could counterattack as soon as Chelsea won the ball back.

“We always found it difficult to play against. When you were attacking, you were thinking, ‘Where’s Robben? Where’s Cole? Who’s staying back? What’s the communication like to make sure we’re dealing with those players?’

“United could do similar using Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial: defend with eight players and have those two waiting in counterattack positions.