Michail Antonio offers hope after latest West Ham injury scare
Michail Antonio may have given West Ham a glimmer of hope in bid for fitness after he limped off in the win against Aston Villa on Sunday.
The Jamaica international was forced off injured after just 52 minutes, with what seemed like a hamstring injury as he lay on the ground receiving treatment.
However it’s been spotted by the eagle-eyed Claret & Hugh that it may not have been that old problem for Antonio as he was seen mouthing, “it’s not the hamstring” as he left the pitch.
With the Hammers preparing for a huge clash against Spanish side Sevilla in the second leg of their Europa League last 16 clash on Thursday, David Moyes will be praying his striker is fit to play.
Jarrod Bowen is likely to be out of the game, which means the team are lacking goals in a tie they are already trailing 1-0 following defeat in Spain last week.
Hope
No Bowen and no Antonio would be a disaster for Moyes heading into the game against Sevilla, so everyone will be gathering around each other praying he’s able to play.
The club failed to strengthen the squad during the January transfer window, with the manager claiming he didn’t want to sign players just for the sake of it with Bowen the best back-up available for Antonio up front.
But with both now missing, there is going to be an over-reliance on Ukrainian Andriy Yarmolenko who has massively underperformed this season.
Despite his excellent goal against Villa at the weekend, Yarmolenko has been largely poor and with everything going on in the world right now it’s hard to imagine him being 100 per cent focused on football.
If Antonio’s self-diagnosis is right then the club will be delighted that he won’t be missing for too long, but even then Thursday could come too soon.
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