Ten Hag wants Antony to step up, please

Talking points from the Premier League games this weekend:

Luiz living up to Emery’s hopes for Villa: Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz netted two superb first-half goals for Aston Villa in their 4-2 win over Nottingham Forest to repay the faith of manager Unai Emery.

“He has told me every day, you need to defend — and if you go you need to score,” a beaming Luiz said as he took his tally to nine Premier League goals.

It is only two shy of the 11 he scored in his previous four seasons combined and if he had been a bit more selfish Luiz might have bagged a hat-trick.

It is unlikely Emery will complain though. After putting his side 3-0 up and then seeing them pegged back to 3-2, he went about the less visible — but equally vital — work of fetching and carrying in midfield to ensure they held on to win.

Ten Hag’s blunt message about Antony:

Despite Manchester United’s mounting injuries, Antony was not brought on until the ninth minute of stoppage time in their shock 2-1 loss to Fulham on Saturday and manager Erik ten Hag was brutally honest about the Brazilian.

“It has nothing to do with fitness,” Ten Hag said of the forward. “The form Antony is in we all have seen and he has to step up. I see it in training.”

Antony starred for Ten Hag at Ajax before joining the Dutchman at United for £80m, but has fallen out of favour with the manager, playing just two minutes earlier in February.

The Glasner effect: New Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner kicked off his Eagles reign in style on Saturday, becoming only the second manager in the club’s history to win on his debut in their 3-0 victory over 10-man Burnley.

Glasner told fans not to expect miracles, but the win moved Palace eight points clear of the drop zone.

Manchester City show they can win ugly:

Grinding out 1-0 victories is not normally associated with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side but when it comes to the business end of a title race their ability to win when not at their best marks them out as serial champions.

That was in evidence again* this week with back-to-back single goal triumphs against Brentford and Bournemouth.

City were far from their best in both games but, as they have done for the past three seasons, found a way to bank six crucial points and turn the heat up on leaders Liverpool.

While third-placed Arsenal’s free-scoring run is making the headlines, the outcome of a compelling three-way title race will probably not be determined by swashbuckling football but more likely the ability to win ugly and City can deliver both.