Michail Antonio misses West Ham United training ahead of clash v Anderlecht
Michail Antonio has missed West Ham training ahead of their midweek clash with Anderlecht with an injury, according to ExWHUemployee.
The Hammers striker was expected to start the Europa Conference League clash on Thursday with Gianluca Scamacca now seen as the first-choice striker at the club with goals in each of his last three games.
But his participation in the game is now in doubt after it was reported that he missed training on Wednesday morning, with Ex providing more details of what he’s heard on his Patreon account [12 October].
“We were told during the week that Antonio missed a scheduled podcast that he was due on this week and is now absent from training today alongside Aguerd and Cornet, sparking rumours he could miss the Anderlecht game at a minimum,” he said.
“David Moyes is due to give a press conference today and the situation should be clarified then. Let’s hope it isn’t too much to worry about.”
Blow
West Ham have finally hit a good run of form with three wins in a row for the first time this season, so it’s typical that bad news was set to follow.
Antonio’s injury record has improved massively over the last two years as he became a hugely reliable member of the first-team squad under David Moyes.
But with Scamacca taking his spot as the first-choice striker, Antonio had a point to prove and it seemed likely that he would get another chance in this game on Thursday.
This was the whole reason a new striker was needed, with Antonio being 32 he was always going to be more susceptible to injury and it was a big area that needed strengthening this summer.
Now we’re back to square one, and if Antonio is to miss any significant amount of time then we will be heavily reliant on Scamacca staying fit and in-form to guide us up the table and into the next round of the Conference League.
If not, it may be that this pundit was right and we can expect a busy January transfer window at the London Stadium.