Manchester United defied a growing injury crisis to take another key step towards Champions League qualification with a 2-0 victory at Nottingham Forest.
The inspired Antony struck his first Premier League goal since October and then turned provider for Diogo Dalot’s opening top-flight effort on his 100th club appearance as Erik ten Hag’s side deservedly claimed a third straight win in the race for a top-four finish and already exceeded their points tally for the whole of last season.
Having seen rivals Newcastle and Tottenham both sink to miserable defeats on Saturday at the hands of Aston Villa and Bournemouth respectively, United have now leapfrogged the former into third spot and opened up a healthy six-point cushion to the latter in fifth - with a game in hand.
It was the perfect response from the Red Devils after they carelessly threw away a two-goal lead at home to Sevilla in a chaotic Europa League quarter-final first-leg tie last time out, and gives them renewed confidence ahead of the crucial decider in Spain on Thursday night.
For struggling Forest, their dismal winless run that has led to renewed speculation over the future of manager Steve Cooper now stands at 10 consecutive games.
They remain 18th and in the relegation zone with seven games left to play this season, behind Everton on goal difference.
United’s dominant display is made all the more impressive in light of their worsening injury woes, with Lisandro Martinez ruled out for the season with a fractured metatarsal suffered against Sevilla and Raphael Varane also added to a lengthy list of absentees that includes the likes of Marcus Rashford.
Tyrell Malacia also missed out on Sunday with a sore knee and neither Luke Shaw nor Scott McTominay were able to return. Marcel Sabitzer then suffered a groin injury during the warm-up at the City Ground and had to be replaced in the starting lineup at the last minute by Christian Eriksen.
Ten Hag’s other enforced changes saw Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof replace the injured Martinez and Varane, with the absence of both Shaw and Malacia meaning that Dalot had to slot in at left-back.
United were on the front foot from the off in the East Midlands as they looked to put Forest in the same bracket as Sheffield Wednesday in 1993-94 and Chelsea in 2010-11 as the only teams to lose to them four times in the same season, following a heavy defeat at Old Trafford in the first League fixture and a 5-0 aggregate thumping in the two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final earlier this year.
There were key blocks at both ends in the initial stages from Felipe and Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Maguire walked an early tightrope after a clumsy foul on Taiwo Awoniyi, one of four players drafted in by under-fire Forest boss Cooper - who is dealing with his own injury crisis at present - along with Scott McKenna, Remo Freuler and Renan Lodi.
It was a frenetic and fast-paced start, with a flurry of efforts on and off target at both ends. Keylor Navas was forced into several flying saves throughout the game, first denying Antony before Forest had penalty appeals waved away after a corner to the back post struck the arm of the struggling Maguire.
Forest were piling bodies into the six-yard box from corners and a similar delivery then struck the woodwork off the elbow of McKenna. The hugely influential Eriksen and Fernandes had a field day as Forest’s risky approach afforded them way too much space in the middle.
The deadlock was broken shortly after the half-hour mark, when Felipe and Danilo got into trouble outside their own box and the latter was dispossessed by Anthony Martial, leading the line for the second time in four days, with the Frenchman then played in by a brilliant first-time pass from Fernandes.
Martial’s low shot was saved well by a sprawling Navas, but Antony was in the perfect position to guide home the rebound having got in front of Lodi. It was the Brazilian winger’s first Premier League goal since October and a 10th of the season across all competitions for United’s oft-criticised £86million summer signing.
The unmarked Fernandes had the chance to double the lead on the stroke of half-time, but he could only steer a header wide of the far post from Eriksen’s cross shortly after a heavy touch from Dalot at the other end had led to Awoniyi blazing over the crossbar.
Forest made an energetic start to the second half as they upped the tempo and tried desperately to find a way back into the game, but United wrestled back control to dominate once more.
Antony was getting close to a second and Navas then made a sublime stop to tip Fernandes’ ferocious strike onto the woodwork. Forest were clinging on at the hour mark as United continued to turn the screw, with Navas again thwarting Fernandes low at his near post.
Cooper made changes but Forest could not stem the tide and Martial should have made it 2-0 when he headed Sancho’s cross wide at the back post.
Perhaps Forest’s best chance of the match came when they overloaded the six-yard box from a corner again and Felipe got in front of David de Gea, only to power a header over the bar from close range when a simple glance would surely have resulted in the equaliser.
He lived to regret that miss just four minutes later, when a dazzling run and pass from Antony teed up Dalot to coolly slot home his first goal in the Premier League.
There were late chances for Antony, Sancho and Fernandes to grab a third for United, with Jesse Lingard only given a handful of minutes by Cooper to try and influence the game against his former club as Forest slumped to a damaging fifth defeat in six matches.
