Sky Sports: Michail Antonio could return for West Ham v Southampton
West Ham United forward Michail Antonio could return for the Premier League clash against Southampton on Tuesday.
Sky Sports have reported that the striker could return to the Irons fold after missing the last five matches with his hamstring problem.
David Moyes has been forced to play Sebastien Haller in those games, with the Ivorian only scoring once, although it was that incredible strike against Palace.
This has been a massive issue for West Ham this season.
Antonio was ruled out once with the same hamstring issue and came back far too early which saw him sidelined for this latest period.
Moyes will be desperate for his main man to return, but also cautious not to bring him back ahead of schedule as it could happen once again, especially in this busy Christmas period.
Despite playing half of the games in the Premier League, Antonio has still scored the same number of goals as Haller – that is the problem.
Even if Antonio does return, it will be Haller starting.
The 26-year-old needs to offer much more than he did in the 2-2 draw against Brighton on Sunday, as his time in the starting XI slowly comes to an end.
In Haller’s last 180 minutes of action, Haller has only managed two shots on goal and one key pass, according to WhoScored, that isn’t Premier League standard.
The quicker Antonio returns, the better – he could have easily have doubled his goal tally in these games that Haller has started.
In other West Ham United news, Michael Owen predicts result of the Irons clash v Saints