West Ham: Five Greatest Moments Of 2020
3. Antonio At The Quadruple
West Ham have a gigantic list of strikers that promised to be the club’s fifteen goals a season man. Strikers like Sebastien Haller, Simone Zaza, Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez, just to name a few, have all failed to live up to the hype and be the club’s talisman. Last season Moyes managed to solve that problem.
Michail Antonio has been at the club for five years and has been a loyal servant to every manager no matter where they have asked him to play. Moyes knew that Antonio was a threat in front of goal and after Haller failed to impress, the Scot switched Antonio to become the team’s new striker.
With the pace and power that Antonio possesses, he fitted the new system brilliantly. The transformation is comparable to that or Marko Arnautovic during Moyes’ first stint in charge. For Antonio though, he managed to become a prolific goalscorer during the run-in of last season.
Antonio scored important goals against Southampton, Chelsea, Newcastle and Watford in the finals eleven games of the season. The highest point for the Englishman, however, was his four-goal haul against Norwich.
Going into the match, the Hammers needed a win to help them in their fight against relegation, and Antonio stepped up. In the first-half Antonio grabbed his first two goals from set-pieces. The first was a volley following a Soucek flick from a corner. The second, Antonio climbed highest to head home after a Mark Noble free-kick.
The second half Antonio completed his hattrick after running through on goal and finishing past Tim Krul. The ball did take a big deflection from the goalkeeper but still ended up in the goal. To finish his flurry of goals was a clever finish from a cut-back from Fredericks.
Antonio continues this form into the current season, scoring three goals against Arsenal, Manchester City and Leicester City. The striker’s season, however, has been curtailed by persistent hamstring injuries. Now fit again Antonio will be wanting to get back on the scoresheet as soon as possible in the new year.