Analysis: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Man Utd

Erik ten Hag surprised a few people in his pre-match news conference when he said Antony was one of the quickest players over 10 yards and he had the stats to back it up.

Starting against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup fifth round for the first time since his goalscoring contribution to the previous round's victory at Newport, it was not easy to see how Ten Hag could arrive at that measurement.

The truth was the former Ajax man's possession tended to follow a pattern. Receiving the ball on the right, he would tend to take a couple of stuttering strides to his right, then either cut inside and go across the pitch for a few strides or simply lay the ball off.

It was not the reason United made Antony the club's second most expensive player in their history, behind Paul Pogba, when they paid £82m for him at Ten Hag's insistence just before the summer 2022 transfer deadline.

The Brazilian was unfortunate an early effort from the edge of the area flicked off the crossbar, the end of a well-worked corner routine and part of an early offensive that should have seen the visitors ahead.

Scott McTominay was in a far better position than he realised when, unmarked, he steered an eight-yard header straight at Forest keeper Matt Turner. McTominay did much better with another Diogo Dalot cross later in the half, stooping low to steer another header towards goal which Turner kept out with a smart reaction save.

Antony had one more effort on the Forest goal in the second half before he was replaced by Amad Diallo 17 minutes from time, looking thoroughly fed up as he trudged to the sideline.

Marcus Rashford was also having one of his more ineffective nights and when he blazed wide after darting into the box, it seemed certain the match was heading to extra time.

To the delight of the visiting fans, Casemiro had other ideas, with his first goal since September proving decisive.