Antony's practice is paying off

The Brazilian winger found the net in each of his previous outings in the division, against Arsenal and Manchester City, and is looking to impress again in Sunday night's 19:00 BST kick-off at Goodison Park.

Frank Lampard's men are unbeaten in their last seven matches in all competitions, after losing in the first two fixtures of 2022/23. Successive wins over West Ham United and Southampton have lifted the Toffees to 11th place in the table and the 101st clash between the clubs at their Merseyside home will provide a test, with the Reds determined to put last weekend's Manchester derby defeat further behind us.

"We know it's going to be a difficult, tough game," he told Premier League Productions. "My team-mates have already spoken to me about this fixture.

"They said it will be difficult. We have to impose our game, show our strength.

"We shouldn't get worked up and let our heads go down because of one game [at City], one result. Sadly, we lost the last [league] game but, when you think about it, we've beaten Liverpool and the league leaders Arsenal.

"Our season can't be summarised by just one game. We're now focused on the match against Everton and, God willing, we will get the three points."

Antony's goalscoring debut against the Gunners was the perfect way to launch his United career and he followed it up with a thunderbolt at the Etihad Stadium. He was unlucky not to find the net again in Thursday's 3-2 win over Omonia Nicosia, when Fabiano made a stunning save to keep out his left-footed curler.

"Before training, I watched a video with the players," the South American recalled of his Reds bow. "I started studying the Arsenal team. I was thinking about where the space would be, if I came on for 15 or 20 minutes, and to play intelligently. The manager put me in the starting XI, so I trained even harder. I saw it was my time and was really happy to have the opportunity to play and start the game after just a few days.

"I prepared and fought through the game and, thank God, it all worked out and I scored a goal. But the most important thing was that the team won."

Antony explained that practice on the training pitch is helping him in his quest for more goals in a United shirt.

"I've always worked very hard and the results are a consequence of this," he explained. "I'll always give 100 per cent, regardless of whether I score or not.

"It was nice to score another goal [at City] though, unfortunately, we lost the game. I was training that shot the day before the game.

"I hit about 10 to 15 balls and, thankfully, I was able to score the goal. Now it's time to prepare and train more, correct mistakes, move in the right direction and achieve great things."