Michail Antonio refuses to be drawn into prediction for West Ham United v Aston Villa after Liverpool disaster
Michail Antonio has refused to be drawn into predicting the result of the West Ham United clash with Aston Villa, following the backlash he received following the Irons’ defeat to Liverpool.
David Moyes’ side travel to Villa Park on Sunday 22 October as club football returns following the international break, with the Hammers hoping to continue their excellent start to the campaign and extend their unbeaten run to five matches in all competitions.
Aston Villa have also started the season well under Unai Emery and sit two appoints above the Irons. While Antonio did confirm he would be fit for the clash, he refused to predict the result after he received criticism for claiming West Ham would beat and finish above Liverpool early this year.
Speaking on Footballer’s Football podcast [19 October, 37:15] he said: “We’ve got Villa away so a difficult game, obviously they’ve been on fire, but we’re doing well ourselves so I feel it should be alright.
“I ain’t going to say nothing so that I can be like Cal (Wilson) and try and put the fire out. I’m just going to stay humble and be like we’ll see, we’ll see what happens this weekend.”
Change of tune
It will be a pleasant change for West Ham United supporters to hear their striker remain humble and keep his mouth shut rather than immediately put a target on the Hammers back following the international break, as his previous comments have caused a stir both in and outside the club.
It has been reported that people within the football club haven’t been the biggest fans of the striker’s appearances on his podcast alongside Callum Wilson, with higher-ups at the London Stadium facing a “nervy wait” each week to see what the outspoken forward has said [Kieran Gill, 4 October].
The clash against Villa will be by no means an easy game as Emery has got his side firing on all cylinders at the start of the season and in the couple of games before the international break, they were seriously impressive, especially as they dismantled Brighton.
Hopefully, this new “humble” version of Antonio will be able to lead the line well at Villa Park and his confidence in Moyes’ side to get a result hasn’t been misguided. At least, either way, this time out he hasn’t put himself up for criticism.
In other West Ham news, Ian Holloway has been left enraged by the treatment of Moyes by Hammers fans in the past