David Moyes has backed Michail Antonio to rediscover his goalscoring touch as West Ham enter a crucial stage of the season.
David Moyes said: “Scoring goals is important for the team and important for him. But you know, we’ve been pretty good with other people stepping up. Micky is more than just a goalscorer for us, he’s someone who runs the line, he takes the weight off other players, he creates a lot of opportunities. It’s been a tough period for him because he started the season so well and he played so well at the end of the last season. So I think we just need to keep supporting him. I’m hoping his goals flow in the last ten games of the season. But I think his performances have improved recently. I think that was my bigger concern. I think good performance tends to lead to goals. So I’m hoping that Mick keeps up his performing levels. We’re not daft though, the last two or three games we’ve lacked our quality in the goal-scoring areas, which may have made a difference.”
Bowen has enjoyed a brilliant season for the Hammers and has 12 goals and 11 assists to his name from 39 appearances. His absence on Sunday will be a blow for Moyes, but the Scotsman said it would be a good chance for other players like Said Benrahma to step up and be counted for. The Algerian international scored just one goal in 33 games in his debut season for West Ham last year but has kicked on this campaign with eight strikes and four assists in 35 games.
David Moyes added: “Said has shown exactly what he can do. He showed it at the start of the season and showed great improvement coming back. His first season was quite difficult. At the start of this year, he was in really good form. I think all the same things still apply. Make the right decisions, choose the right pass at the right moment. Make the decision whether to take people on or to retain possession. So all those basic things because he’s important to us because he can make the difference. He’s a talented player. And we need those players just to find that little bit of difference, which would help us go over that line.”
