Antony trains ahead of Toffees tie

The Brazil international could increase the options available to manager Erik ten Hag for the third-round encounter at Old Trafford, which kicks off on Friday at 20:00 GMT.

The boss revealed that the winger missed the 3-0 victory over Bournemouth due to injury, with Marcus Rashford back in the starting line-up and Bruno Fernandes operating on the other flank. Donny van de Beek performed in the middle of the park, but was withdrawn with a serious-looking problem that caused Ten Hag some concern afterwards.

Antony made a superb start to life at United by scoring in his opening three Premier League matches for the Reds, and one of those came against Everton.

The South American equalised at Goodison Park in October, before Cristiano Ronaldo hit the winner in a 2-1 triumph on Merseyside.

More recently, injury limited his output for the Reds before participating in the World Cup finals in Qatar but he was lively against Wolves in our final match of 2022, helping Ten Hag's men achieve a 1-0 victory, after previously getting minutes against Burnley and Nottingham Forest.

The fact the 22-year-old is training with the first-team squad at our base ahead of the clash with Frank Lampard's side is a positive, and the manager also indicated that he expects Anthony Martial to recover from a knock in order to be in contention to face the Toffees.

Ten Hag is due to hold a press conference to preview the tie at the unusual time of 16:30 GMT on Thursday, when he may be able to provide an update on van de Beek and the team news in full ahead of the first step on what could obviously be a road to Wembley.

United's next assignment after the Everton game is another home tie, against Charlton Athletic in the Carabao Cup, next Tuesday night.