Erik ten Hag fears winger Antony suffered a “serious” injury as Manchester United fulfilled the “main objective” of Champions League qualification by thrashing Chelsea.
The Red Devils sealed their return to European football’s top table with a game to spare by thrashing Frank Lampard’s wasteful Blues 4-1 at Old Trafford on Thursday evening.
Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford scored before Joao Felix struck a late consolation on a night that saw Antony leave on a stretcher in the first half.
Asked for an update on the Brazil international, Ten Hag said: “I don’t know. Everyone has seen he came off.
“I can tell you that it’s serious but we have to wait minimum 24 hours and then we know probably more about the status of his injury.”
Ten Hag’s comments suggest Antony is in danger of missing the FA Cup final against Manchester City on June 3, with Luke Shaw also requiring assessment after being substituted with a reported back issue.
“We have to wait,” he said. “Antony looks serious but we don’t know what it is. With Shaw, we have to wait as well. After tomorrow we know more.”
Their absence would be big blows for a United side that are already without Lisandro Martinez, Marcel Sabitzer and Donny van de Beek for the FA Cup final.
Beating City would be the cherry on top of what Ten Hag believes has already been a “successful season”.
“I have always high expectations of myself and I think this club belongs in the Champions League, so you have to qualify in the first four,” he said.
“But this league is very strong, and there are many teams, many clubs, who are competing for the position and they all can do it because they have high budgets, good squads.
“We see Chelsea, they have massive, good squad with outstanding players.
“So, we are happy we are in the first four. I think we played a good season in the Premier League. I would say, a very good season.”
Put to Ten Hag that former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said finishing in the top four was the equivalent of winning a trophy, Ten Hag said: “Oh, I think in the Premier League, yeah, it’s something like that.
“That is, I think, the main objective of the season, to get in the Champions League.
“So, therefore you have to see yourself in the top four and, as I just tried to respond, the competition is tough.
“It’s many teams with really good squads, good managers, so when you are in there you’re doing a good job and your team is playing well and performing well.
“I think this is for this moment the maximum, but we want more.”
That hunger for more means backing is required in the summer transfer window, whoever United’s owners are.
“You have to see how you come out of the transfer window,” Ten Hag added.
“But if I see now I think we need more, so I don’t have so much patience. And that is one of my mistakes.”
Chelsea were already guaranteed to finish in bottom half for the first time in 27 years before this club record 16th defeat in a 38-game Premier League season.
Interim boss Frank Lampard was understandably downtrodden in the press conference that followed his eighth loss in 10 matches in charge.
“My personal feeling? I don’t think it’s about my personal feeling, I think it’s probably about the reality of where we’re at,” he said.
“I’ve said it a lot going into the game, when things are off for a period, which has been the season for us – you can trace it back to probably pre-season – and then it’s not easy to turn it.
“Then when you get into a run-in against top clubs that are going for something, nothing’s a given in this game.
“Mixed feelings. We played OK in parts today, there was some individual performances within the game, which I think can be nice shoots for the future if they’re worked on.
“But of course the reality is when you come to Manchester United and how clinical they are in front of goal and how non-clinical we were, how we defended individually poorly in the second half, then the result can come.”
Simeone takes positives but Oblak slams 'pitiful' Atletico performance
Jan Oblak hit out at a "pitiful" performance from Atletico Madrid after their 4-0 loss to Benfica in the Champions League.
Benfica recorded their joint-biggest victory in a Champions League home match (alongside 5-1 vs Club Brugge in March 2023), as Atletico suffered their heaviest ever defeat to Portuguese opposition in the competition.
Atletico had only four shots, failing to get any of them on target, and mustered just 0.24 expected goals (xG).
Benfica, on the other hand, had 19 shots and accumulated 4.46 xG.
While Diego Simeone believed there were positives to take, Oblak, who made six saves to keep the scoreline from getting even more humiliating, was far more scathing of Atletico's display in Lisbon.
"It's pitiful to lose like this, it's not a good image to give and there's not much more to say. We weren't good today, to say the least," Oblak told Movistar Plus.
"Sometimes games like this happen, but we can't afford it because we gave a woeful impression today. I don't have a single positive thing I can say today.
"We didn't show up and there's not much more to say. Nobody is saved from what happened today, we have to accept it and move forward."
Simone accepted Atletico "played badly", but did feel it was not all doom and gloom.
"I always like to think positively and I think it's a good opportunity to keep improving," Simeone told Movistar Plus.
"We had been doing a very good job, today we didn't play the game we expected, but we have to keep going.
"We played badly. We have to accept that. We didn't play well, the substitutions didn't give us the spark that they gave us at other times. We played badly, they were better and we have to accept that.
"There was no lack of tension, attitude or desire to run, we just played badly and when you play badly you are exposed to losses like this.
"We had been doing a very good job and today the game that you don't want to see appeared.
"Some nights are not good and we have to accept them and try to learn from what we had to go through today and recover energy for Sunday's LaLiga game [at Real Sociedad]."
O'Neil hoping for Wolves lift-off at Brentford
Gary O'Neil believes one victory is all it will take to provide lift-off for Wolves' season, as the Premier League's bottom side prepare to visit Brentford on Saturday.
Wolves have taken just one point from their first six matches of the season, having last failed to win any of their first seven games of a top-flight campaign when they finished bottom in 2003-04.
They fell to a 2-1 defeat to leaders Liverpool at Molineux last week and have also faced Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Aston Villa in a daunting start to 2024-25.
O'Neil believes their performances have warranted better results and insists his team retain the backing of supporters, saying: "The lads always show that they're not a group that can't bounce back.
"When we lost to Arsenal, we went full throttle against Chelsea. Then we went full throttle against Newcastle and we suffered a late defeat. We go to Aston Villa, and we go again.
"We're ready to go again and that will always be the case. Everyone in this football club is doing absolutely everything they can, myself included. I'm really disappointed for the lads because they deserve something to show for their efforts at this moment.
"We just need to find a way to get that first win on the board, then we'll be able to push off."
Brentford, meanwhile, sit 12th in the table with seven points, after drawing 1-1 with West Ham last time out.
Goalkeeper Mark Flekken has made a solid start to 2024-25 after initially struggling to adapt to the Premier League when first joining the Bees last year.
Speaking to the club's official website about his upturn, the former Freiburg man said it was his goal to become a player coach Thomas Frank could always depend on.
"I want to put in the same performances that I did during the second half of last season, but over the full year," Flekken said.
"I'm not the person that seeks out to be decisive in a game; if the boys keep everything away from me, that's better. I want to save those one, two, three shots on target where the team needs me. That is my goal, to be that person they can rely on."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Brentford – Bryan Mbeumo
Mbeumo's goal against West Ham last time out was his 48th Premier League goal involvement (27 goals, 21 assists), the outright most of any Brentford player.
The Cameroonian is looking to score in three consecutive league games for the first time since December 2019 (a run of four in the Championship).
Wolves – Matheus Cunha
So much of Wolves' attacking play goes through Cunha, and the Brazilian will have a pivotal role to play if they are to get up and running here.
He has had more shots (16), created more chances (nine), had more touches in the opposition box (25) and played more passes into the box (30) than any other Wolves player in the Premier League this season.
MATCH PREDICTION – BRENTFORD WIN
Brentford won 2-0 at Wolves in February, with the Bees last winning consecutive league games against them in the 2015-16 Championship campaign.
But Wolves have a strong record in West London, going unbeaten through their last five away league games against Brentford (three wins, two draws), winning two of their three visits in the Premier League including a 4-1 triumph last December.
O'Neil's men have also won three of their last four Premier League away games against London sides, as many as they had in their previous 21 such visits (four draws, 14 losses), though they did lose on their only visit to the capital so far this season (0-2 at Arsenal).
Wolves have, however, conceded 16 goals from just 9.8 expected goals against (xGA) in the Premier League this season, the worst such difference so far this term (-6.2). Brentford will hope their porous showings continue on Saturday.
The Bees should be wary if they do hit the front though, having dropped a league-high 38 Premier League points from winning positions since the start of last season, including eight already in 2024-25.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Brentford – 47.4%
Wolves – 27.9%
Draw – 24.8%
Sturm Graz 0-1 Club Brugge: Tzolis strike seals visitors' first win
Christos Tzolis scored the only goal as Club Brugge edged out Sturm Graz 1-0 for their first win in this season's Champions League.
The Greece international delivered the decisive blow in the 23rd minute at 28 Black Arena on Wednesday.
Both sides were seeking their first point in the competition, having recorded defeats on matchday one against Borussia Dortmund and Brest respectively.
Brugge broke through midway through the first half, as Tzolis controlled before firing in off the post from the edge of the penalty area.
The visitors went close to doubling their lead after the break, but Sturm Graz goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen came to the hosts' rescue with a series of fine saves.
Urged on by the home fans, Christian Ilzer's side went in search of an equaliser, but it did not arrive as Brugge held out for the points.
Data Debrief: Third time unlucky for Sturm Graz
Sturm Graz have now suffered four successive Champions League defeats for the third time in their history.
Meanwhile, the Austrian side have now lost their last four European matches against Belgian opposition without scoring.
By contrast, Brugge maintained their perfect record of three straight wins against Austrian opponents, while they have now kept four clean sheets in five Champions League away games - as many as in their previous 22.
Tzolis' strike came from one of three shots on target, becoming the first Brugge player to register that amount in a single Champions League game since Hans Vanaken did so against Paris Saint-Germain in September 2021.
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