David Moyes confirms Michail Antonio will miss West Ham clash v Man United
David Moyes has confirmed that West Ham United forward Michail Antonio will miss the Premier League clash with Manchester United on Saturday.
The Hammers boss shared the huge blow in his press conference, with the striker still suffering from problems with his hamstring.
That blow has been met with the boost that Andriy Yarmolenko has returned to training after testing positive for COVID-19 in the past fortnight.
Moyes shared the news to the media on Friday, claiming that Antonio has also been suffering from a fresh problem this week.
“Michail won’t be available,” he said, relayed on Twitter.
“He’s still having problems with his hamstring, it’s something different but we hope he won’t be too long.”
Antonio did return against Aston Villa but was dragged off at half-time in the 2-1 win.
Initially, this looked as though Moyes was moving with caution given the fact that the striker has suffered from hamstring problems throughout his career.
Antonio’s absence means that Sebastien Haller will likely come in.
The Frenchman has made nine Premier League appearances this season already and has completed 397 minutes – scoring twice against Wolves and Sheffield United.
Comparing Haller to Antonio this season via WhoScored, this could be a massive blow against the Red Devils – who could be missing Marcus Rashford themselves.
Antonio has completed more shots on goal, key passes and dribbles per game and has also attracted more fouls for his side when holding up the ball.
Haller needs to get around the pitch more and occupy the defenders dramatically more than he does and taking a leaf from Antonio’s book would certainly help.
In other West Ham United news, Mark Lawrenson predicts Hammers clash v Man United