The last Manchester United Premier League goalscoring debutant against Arsenal laid it on for the latest. As headline-grabbing as Antony's impact was, it was an old scourge of Arsenal's who inflicted a first defeat of the season on them.
Just like six-and-a-half years ago, Marcus Rashford's Sunday ended with two goals and an assist against Arsenal, for ever willing patsies to United just when they appeared to be a serious side.
Rashford reacted to his winning goal by jumping for joy as identically as he did when he finished his first goals past Arsenal as an 18-year-old, this time at the Stretford End. Same outcome, different end.
All of this on an afternoon when a section of the crowd sounded audibly irked with Rashford more than once with his style. Fernandes out-pressed Rashford at times and United seemed to miss Anthony Martial's pressing triggers their coaches rhapsodized about during pre-season.
Yet bizarrely, this was also a proper striker's performance from Rashford, his first goal deflecting in scruffily off Gabriel when the Brazilian had no right to be breathing down his neck. The second was served on a plate by the superb Christian Eriksen.
Admittedly, Rashford's goal came after he was relocated to the wing to accommodate Cristiano Ronaldo but the area he drifted into was very much centre forward territory. It is still not a coincidence Rashford truly came alive playing off the left, where Jadon Sancho failed to unnerve the auxiliary right-back Ben White.
Soon, the soundtrack changed. "He's born to play, in red and white," the Stretford End chorused. Erik ten Hag had already readied Fred and Jadon Sancho's number was up. Whether the number changed from 10 to 25 is unclear.
Four victories out of six, two against teams who ended above them in last season's cataclysmic campaign, marks an impressive revival from the debacles of Brighton and Brentford. United have only not moved into the Champions League qualifying berths as both Tottenham and Brighton won. They are three points off the summit.
Arsenal, their 100 per cent record now over, is another scalp for Ten Hag mere months into his premiership. United were not entirely convincing and the counter-attack remains their favoured approach on the front foot. Points on the board takes precedent as exorbitant signings are integrated into the team after a fraught first three weeks in August.
United showed a new layer - resilience - to recover from Bukayo Saka's inevitable equaliser in the 60th minute, regain the lead and then extend it. Arsenal were level at 1-1 for only six minutes.
If Ten Hag risked regression by leaving Casemiro on the bench and not introducing him earlier in the second-half, he showcased his foresight with the introduction of Ronaldo, who earned applause from his manager for his work-rate deep into stoppage-time. Ronaldo was a more willing presser than Rashford through the middle.
On a day Ten Hag's quotes assuring he would be a friend but also a teacher to Ronaldo were published, Ronaldo was relentless, not that there should have been any uncertainty over his work ethic. Ronaldo's mentality could be gauged by the warm ovation and embrace he reserved for the substituted Antony.
Ten Hag threw Antony, who last played three weeks ago, in at the deep end and it was mystifying he did not apply that logic to Casemiro, a United player for a fortnight already. More baffling was the decision not to substitute on Casemiro first or second as he turned to Ronaldo and Fred. By the time Casemiro emerged, it was 3-1.
Rashford's display was a reverse of his unforgettable domestic debut against Arsenal, with the assist preceding the goals. He drew two defenders and found the unattended Antony to curl the ball beautifully around Aaron Ramsdale.
Seconds earlier, Antony manipulated the ball as though he were a YouTube freestyler, supporters muttering scornfully at the superfluousness of the step-overs. Their mood soon altered.
Antony incorporated game-management into his celebration, placing the ball under his shirt and receiving a ticking off from the referee as Arsenal's players stewed. He was soon inside his own third, earning a throw-in and berating an opponent. That neatly encompasses the character and quality Ten Hag demands from his players old and new.
The Arsenal defender Marquinhos congratulated Antony as he embarked on his warm-up. Generations change but that deferential streak in Arsenal remains present. They will wonder how they lost to United, never mind by two goals.
United's intention was to eschew the breakaway. Diogo Dalot started kick-off on the halfway line and he was inside Arsenal's penalty area within five minutes.
Vacating that amount of space was an enticing invitation for Arsenal and as soon as Gabriel Martinelli was haring towards David de Gea's goal, Dalot was caught out and could not keep up as the ball was clipped into the bottom corner.
Eventually, the referee Paul Tierney overturned his lenient refereeing and gave a retrospective foul by Martin Odegaard on Eriksen that sparked the breakaway, sparing everyone from another VAR-related controversy this weekend. Tierney required a needlessly excessive assessment of the monitor.
The scoreline had to be consulted as to whether it read 0-1 as the chalked-off goal knocked the stuffing out of United, their early impetus lost to one warning shot. It was through the visionary Eriksen's line-breaking pass, rendering Arsenal's midfield duo moot, that the attacking quartet tidily converted. Suddenly the scoreline read 1-0.
By full-time, it looked very different.
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