With Michail Antonio sidelined for West Ham, who will step up now?

If the first half of the second round of the Carabao Cup wasn’t starting off bad enough, it got worse when West Ham United’s starting winger, Michail Antonio, went down.

One of the storylines flying around the West Ham world has been, when would Pellegrini go back to starting Michail Antonio? Tuesday night answered that question but for only about 8 minutes before the Hammer’s secret weapon pulled up lame with a hamstring issue.

For West Ham, Antonio has missed 17 matches due to past hamstring issues and its easy to understand why when you watch how he plays, strong, fast, and pushing all the time. Pellegrini was quoted after the match stating, “we will see tomorrow [Wednesday] but he has a hamstring injury, we will see how big it is but after the medical examination, of course, we will know more.”

With the question of when will he return, West Ham will have to look ahead and see who will be a viable replacement for the English international. Right off the bat, a few candidates come to mind so let’s take a look:

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Andriy Yarmolenko

The Ukrainian right-winger was the starter for the previous two EPL matches and one would imagine that the Gaffer will be looking for him to start again this weekend. Yarmolenko doesn’t have the same athleticism as Antonio, but he can pose a threat to the goal and can move the ball around nicely.

Robert Snodgrass

Snodgrass probably got a boost to his game after being called up to Scotland’s international squad for the break coming up but he didn’t look at his best in recent minutes against Newport County in the Carabao Cup. If Pellegrini decides to go with McMessi, West Ham will lose pace and strength but gain leadership and a solid cross.

Pablo Fornals

Lastly, Fornals. The summer signing has seen the pitch on a few occasions so far for the Hammers and got his first West Ham goal last night in the cup tie. Fornals can play on the right side and looked well moving a passing with Wilshere and Anderson Tuesday night. Going forward until Antonio gets healthy, I would look at starting Fornals in place of him.

If there is one thing going for the Hammers it’s that they have midfield players growing out of their ears. However, you never want to see a player go down and especially when they were just getting in form and looking at a big season like Antonio was. Speedy recovery and best of luck Michail!