Nick Ware

Tue 27 April 2021 16:30, UK

West Ham duo Michail Antonio and Declan Rice are making huge progress in their return from injury, according to EXWHUemployee.

After rumours began to circulate that Antonio might not feature again this season, the Irons insider moved to shut down such talk on his personal Twitter profile.

He wrote: “No I was misquoted [that Antonio might not play again in 2020/21]. I did an update on this on the podcast on Monday. He is way ahead of schedule. Could be available much sooner than anticipated. Same as [Declan] Rice.”

Antonio has missed the last three games after coming off injured in the first half against Wolves on April 5, while Rice’s last game for West Ham was before the international break, at Arsenal on March 21.

David Moyes said last week that he was “hopeful” that the pair would be back before the campaign’s conclusion. [BT Sport]

Urgently required

Getting Antonio and Rice back as soon as possible could be paramount to our chances of an unlikely Champions League spot, while a place in the Europa League is not in the bag just yet.

Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea was a big setback as it pushed the Blues three points ahead in fourth, but with five games remaining there is still a chance to recover.

Rice is probably our most important player, that much has been obvious for some time now, but there was the notion that we could perhaps survive with Antonio for a short period with Jarrod Bowen and Jesse Lingard thriving on the counter-attack.

But the last two games have shown the need to have a strong striker that can hold the ball up and bring others into play, particularly when we are not firing on all cylinders.

At least this update gives us a bit of optimism heading into the final few weeks of the season.

In other West Ham news, Reliable journalist claims Irons in hunt to sign ‘Stunning’ £17.3m-rated international.

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