'He can kill opponents' - Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag challenges Antony

Erik ten Hag has challenged Antony to step up for Manchester United in their run-in.

The £85.51million signing has scored seven times for United but his last Premier League goal was at Everton in October.

Antony excelled against auxiliary left-back Ben Godfrey in United's 2-0 defeat of Everton at Old Trafford on Saturday and Godfrey endured such a chastening first half he was substituted at half-time.

Also read: Bellingham is ready for the role Ten Hag wants him to take on at United

However, Antony also made way in the second half for Anthony Martial and the Brazilian appeared to be unhappy at his withdrawal in the 1-0 loss at Newcastle at the start of the month.

"Of course, we expect from frontline players that they are not only a threat but also they have effect in the final thing and he has to work on that, of course," Ten Hag said. "But he is a young player.

"When you see his record - you mention he is not scoring Premier League- but he did against Betis a really important goal after half time. He did score against Barcelona, the winner, you can’t say they are not big games. He also scored in cup games. If you can do it in such games you can also do it in Premier League games, so I don't have a concern about that.

"But like many more players, you have to step up and he has to step up as well. We have to win games together. That is my experience with him. He is a fighter and he likes challenges and with him in the team the team is winning. That is why is in the Selecao (Brazil national team) and also why he is often selected in the starting 11.

"He is still a very young player, he can kill opponents. We see on Saturday, the Everton manager brings on another player at half-time because he is killing the left