Antony's promise to United fans

The 24-year-old missed Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Bournemouth but proved lively in both Old Trafford meetings with Liverpool, scoring a vital goal in the former to help United through to Sunday’s Emirates FA Cup semi-final.

His most recent start, in the unfortunate 4-3 defeat at Chelsea, saw him complete the full 90 minutes, as he conjured a sublime assist for Alejandro Garnacho’s second goal and was a thorn in the side of Blues’ full-back Marc Cucurella.

By Antony’s own admission, it hasn’t been the easiest campaign and, while he accepts there’s still room for improvement, the Brazil international is arriving at a better place when it comes to his performances at training and in matches.

“I'm really happy with my form, I've worked very hard every day towards this,” he told MUTV’s Mark Sullivan.

“I've been working hard in training for months now, so I'm very pleased with my performances and I hope to improve with every game.

“I know that there is a lot that can be improved and I've worked on this. I'm happy seeing my performances improve game by game.”

The way in which Antony carved open the Chelsea defence to provide for Garnacho a fortnight ago took the breath away, with some labelling it ‘the pass of the season’.

It was certainly one of the former Ajax man’s standout moments in a term that has been interrupted on several occasions, but now he’s optimistic for the future.

“You can certainly expect a lot of these moments. As I said, my confidence is back through hard work.

“This despite having gone through a lot, I've been through some very difficult moments.

“Today, I'm turning things around and have been for quite a while now. Importantly, I continue working regardless of the situation.

“I was delighted with the assist for Garnacho and you can definitely expect a lot of good things ahead.”

Now, the Brazilian is looking ahead to the cup semi-final against Coventry City, at Wembley.

Antony knows the importance of the occasion, having played in two of our three visits to the national stadium last season, and isn’t taking the opposition for granted as we seek to reach a second consecutive final.

“Playing in a semi-final in such a historic stadium is really important,” he said.

“Even though they are in the Championship, we have to respect them as they didn't reach an FA Cup semi-final by chance.

“I'm looking forward to the game and how good it will be, we'll study the opposition to be prepared to meet our objective.

“We know how important the FA Cup is, and it's really important for us and the fans to win this trophy.

“We're really grateful to the fans for their support at every game, they're always behind us. We owe this trophy to them, because they support us every day.”

Antony has had a significant impact in our run to Wembley, scoring and assisting at Newport County in January’s fourth round. Of course, he then rifled in a late equaliser against Liverpool to tie the score at 2-2 and take that game to extra-time.

Our no.21 was introduced as a second-half substitute by Erik ten Hag and came on with a sense he would make a positive impression.

“I'll remember the feeling for the rest of my life,” he added.

“Before the game, I had a feeling that something good was going to happen, I'd even shared this with a team-mate.

“I'm happy to have helped my team-mates with an important goal towards getting the win. It was a very memorable day.”