Michail Antonio
After a nine-game goalless run West Ham striker Michail Antonio has got two in his last three and is looking back to his best once more. The Jamaican international cut a frustrated figure during his barren run but with few alternative options in his squad, David Moyes stuck with his main goalscoring threat and has been repaid for his faith.
Michail Antonio said: “That’s one thing the gaffer’s instilled in us: resilience. We’ve always got to believe – we always know we can score a goal. We managed to score a few goals [against Crystal Palace], but then it’s just about keeping them out at the end. The whole way through Palace were creating opportunities, but we managed to hold out, so we’ll take that and we’ll go again. I’m a person who always wants to score goals and I always believe in myself and that I should score goals. I’m my biggest critic so when I wasn’t scoring, it was frustrating. Sometimes it’s just about time. I managed to get my first one [against Southampton], got an assist last week [at Watford] and got a goal again [against Palace], so hopefully I can keep making goal contributions to help the team.”
The wins either side of New Year have kept the Hammers in contention for a top-four spot and has seen them close the gap on Arsenal to just one point and Antonio sees no reason why West Ham cannot keep up their Champions League charge.
Michail Antonio added: “One thing we’ve got is our resilience. If you look at our record from 2021, only five teams won more Premier League points than us. If we can do that in a calendar year, why can’t we do that over a season? This season, I’ve been able to look after my body right and do the right things, so hopefully I can keep going and have a good run. We’ve got the quality, but you’ve also got to match it with the work rate. That’s one thing the top teams do – they’ve got quality players, but also work rate – and that’s one thing we’re doing. Hopefully we can keep pushing on for the rest of the season.”
