In the penultimate away game of the season, Manchester United play Crystal Palace and one player must be left out.
The Premier League season is drawing to a close, with Champions League football for next season off the table at Old Trafford.
This leaves Manchester United in limbo right now, as they need to keep the intensity up for the FA Cup final.
Currently in the battle for sixth, that should be motivation not to take eyes off the league yet – albeit there’s an argument as to whether they ever had them on the league.
With tricky games in the last four, United need to get some confidence back and against Crystal Palace on Monday is the perfect chance.
But Erik ten Hag must resist the urge to start one player at Selhurst Park.
Erik ten Hag can’t start Antony for Manchester United vs Palace
After scoring last week against Burnley, Antony will be feeling as confident as he has all season, and this may leave Ten Hag feeling inclined to start him.
But despite positive signs in the past few weeks, this isn’t a game for Antony to start in, even after his goal. A confident Antony hasn’t always been a good thing and usually, the next performance is a step-down.
This isn’t to say Antony doesn’t deserve to start after scoring, but rather it’s a game and opponent unsuited to his talents.
Palace isn’t going to sit back and allow Antony to play the football he likes to play, they’re going to press relentlessly as has become the norm under Oliver Glasner.
Given Antony’s preference to try and beat his defender as well, it seems unwise to start him in this game considering the defender he’ll find himself up against.
Crystal Palace have the player to lock Antony down completely
The defender that Antony will find himself up against is arguably the Premier League’s best full-back at tackling.
According to FotMob, Tyrick Mitchell has won 53 tackles, 144 duels and made 25 interceptions along with 193 recoveries this season to date.
If Antony is fielded to start against Mitchell it is likely to end up once more with fans bemoaning the ‘world-class’ Antony – as Dan Burn heralded him – as we’ve seen for 95 per cent of this campaign.
Instead, Ten Hag should put a player such as Amad Diallo out there who can sit more inverted, dragging Mitchell away from his preferred area of the pitch.