London โ Antony scored on his dream debut for Manchester United as the Brazilian's clinical strike and Marcus Rashfordโs double inspired a 3-1 win that ended Arsenalโs perfect start to the Premier League season on Sunday.
Antony was making his first appearance after signing from United manager Erik ten Hagโs former club Ajax in an ยฃ82million deal on Thursday.
Full of flicks, tricks and purposeful movement, the 22-year-old forward took just 35 minutes to get on the scoresheet in a dazzling introduction to his new fans at Old Trafford.
1๏ธโฃ Assist
โ SuperSport ๐ (@SuperSportTV) September 4, 2022
2๏ธโฃ Goals
Hereโs Marcus Rashfordโs reaction to his performance and the result at Old Trafford ๐ฌ#MUNARS
Arsenal hit back to equalise through Bukayo Saka, but Rashford blew the leaders away with two goals in the space of nine second-half minutes after Antony was replaced by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Thanks to Antony and Rashford, United were able to celebrate a fourth successive victory that lifted them to fifth place.
Opening his reign with consecutive losses against Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford was a humbling experience for Ten Hag.
But since then, the Dutch coach has started to put his imprint on a United side that look far more organised than the shambolic unit that finished sixth in the league last season.
Arsenal's first defeat this term after five successive wins was cruel on Mikel Arteta's men, who contributed plenty to an engrossing encounter but paid the price for some naive defending.
Arsenal thought they had snatched the lead in the 12th minute as Gabriel Martinelli raced away from Diogo Dalot to clip a fine finish over David de Gea.
But VAR intervened to ask Paul Tierney to check for a foul in the build-up and the referee ruled Martin Odegaard pushed Christian Eriksen to steal possession.
Antony put United ahead in the 35th minute when Rashford's deft pass reached the forward, who took advantage of Arsenal's sloppy marking to sweep a composed finish into the far corner from eight yards.
Antony kissed his badge and posed for the television cameras in a flamboyant celebration that sent Old Trafford into raptures, earning a ticking off from Tierney for sticking the ball up his shirt in front of the Arsenal fans.
Bruno โThe Portuguese Magnificoโ Fernandes with an exquisite through ball ๐คค
Manchester United lead 3-1 with less than 15 minutes to go.
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Confidence clearly was not a problem for Antony and he even tried an audacious lob that kept Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale on his toes.
Antony departed to a standing ovation after 58 minutes to be replaced by Ronaldo.
Saka silenced Old Trafford two minutes later as Arsenal grabbed a deserved equaliser.
Odegaard's pass unhinged the United defence and when Dalot's tackle on Gabriel Jesus diverted the ball to Saka, the England winger slotted home with ease.
But United caught Arsenal with a brilliant counter in the 66th minute.
๐ Push in the back
๐ฆถ Catching the back of the leg
Dermot Gallagher has been called upon to offer his verdict on that incident - heโs calling it a foul. The debate rages on ๐ฌ
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Playing through the Arsenal press, Eriksen found Bruno Fernandes and his superb pass sent Rashford galloping clear to fire past Ramsdale.
United wrapped up the points with a replica of their second goal as Arsenal once again left themselves open at the back and this time Eriksen fed Rashford to slot home.
In Sunday's early game, Brighton & Hove Albion extended their superb start to the season with a 5-2 victory that left bottom of the table Leicester City in turmoil.
Graham Potter's fourth-placed side made it four wins from their first six games thanks to a second-half surge at the Amex Stadium.
Kelechi Iheanacho put Leicester ahead in the first minute, but a Luke Thomas own goal and Moises Caicedo's strike gave Brighton the advantage.
Patson Daka equalised for Leicester, but the struggling visitors collapsed after halftime as Leandro Trossard put Brighton in front before Alexis Mac Allister's double sealed the rout.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ โจ
โ SuperSport ๐ (@SuperSportTV) September 4, 2022
Antony expertly places a Marcus Rashford pass into the back of the net.
United lead at halftime โ
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Leicester have taken just one point from their first six games, losing five in a row to leave boss Brendan Rodgers under severe pressure.
"The simplicity goes out of your game if you lack confidence," Rodgers said.
"I don't listen to the outside noise. You put the hard yards in and work, not shirk responsibility.
"The results are down to me. I'm the manager. We need to go away and work even harder to get that first win."
AFP