By Anthony Onifade

3rd Mar, 2023 | 3:10pm

Michail Antonio failed West Ham United test v Manchester United, summer sale on the cards

With Gianluca Scamacca returning from injury, and Danny Ings unlocking his goalscoring form, Michail Antonio had the chance to stake his West Ham claim against Manchester United on Wednesday but failed the test.

The Hammers crashed out of the FA Cup on Wednesday evening after a late surge from a much-changed and rampant Manchester United side at Old Trafford.

Said Benrahma gave the visitors the lead after half-time but an own goal from Nayef Aguerd, followed by Alejandro Garnacho and Fred strikes ended their cup run in dramatic fashion.

West Ham should have been well out of sight before the Red Devils found a way back into the game, but for poor finishing from last season’s top goalscorer Antonio.

In the absence of the cup-tied Ings, David Moyes opted to start the 32-year-old up-front in what was a major chance to stake his claim as West Ham’s regular no.9 for the remainder of the campaign but the Jamaican international failed miserably.

While the club fan-favourite will go down as the club’s top scorer in the Premier League, it remains clear off the back of this campaign so far that Antonio may not have what it takes to lead the line for the Hammers like he did last term.

With Ings reigniting his goal-scoring touch against Forest last weekend, Antonio’s chances of starting are fading.

The former winger-turned-striker wasted a number of opportunities at Old Trafford, chances he could well have scored last season highlighting his supposed decline and drop in performance levels in recent months.

Antonio would manage just 36 touches and seven successful passes, registering a woeful pass success rate of just 54% which also saw him lose possession on 13 occasions [SofaScore]. This is becoming a recurring theme, with the player also possessing the worst pass success rate of any Hammers player this season [WhoScored].

Most of all, his goal contributions are on the decline too, having registered double figures in his past two campaigns, he has only managed three Premier League goals and 2 assists in 23 outings.

Such a fall in performance levels even led ex-West Ham player Glen Johnson to fire a brutal jibe at the striker saying he is “not good enough” for Moyes’ men. The player faces an uncertain future at the London Stadium this summer, after being the subject of interest [The Sun, 26 January] elsewhere in the January window.

Antonio’s contract runs out in 2024, and with no news of him signing an extension, the Hammers should look to cash in on him in order to fund their upcoming summer rebuild.