On Monday night’s emphatic victory over Leicester City at London Stadium, Michail Antonio made history by becoming West Ham’s all-time leading Premier League goalscorer.
The jack of all trades – who only got converted to a full-time striker at the end of the 2019/2020 season by David Moyes – scored his 48th and 49th league goals for the club, surpassing previous record holder and Hammers legend Paolo Di Canio to stand on his own at the top of the charts.
Antonio has been at West Ham since 2015 and has played in a variety of roles for the club but has now nailed down a starting role as a striker and continues to thrive.
Ironically, these two goals, along with Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma netting one each, also sent West Ham to the top of the Premier League table – a fitting way to celebrate Antonio’s personal accolade.
As for ourselves, we will celebrate by taking a trip back down memory lane and looking at a few of Antonio’s most iconic goals in claret and blue.
Antonio v Southampton – 28th December 2015
After signing for West Ham during the summer of 2015, it took Antonio around half a season for him to cement his place within the first team. And once he broke through, there was no holding him back.
Since Dimitri Payet‘s injury against Everton a month earlier, the Hammers were looking for a new talisman to step up and push them back up the table, having dipped with the absence of their star man.
However, nobody quite expected Antonio to step up in the way he did, and he scored a goal that sums up why he is still so loved in east London six years later.
West Ham were 1-0 down at home to Southampton and was struggling to make a breakthrough before Antonio drove into the box, without even knowing what he wanted to do with the ball, which subsequently saw him tripping over before a Saints defender tried to clear the ball, resulting in it hitting his head and looping over the goalkeeper’s head to level the score.
The Hammers went on to win the game 2-1, and that was the start of a romantic tale between Antonio and the West Ham faithful.
Antonio v Manchester United – 10th May 2016
The last ever game at the Boleyn Ground. History was there to be made, with an outside chance of still finishing in the top four. It was a massive match for numerous reasons.
Having taken the lead in the first half, West Ham was on course to get a crucial victory for the club and, most importantly, the supporters.
Then, within a matter of 20 second-half minutes, Louis Van Gaal’s Man United side sucker-punched the Hammers and took the lead, leaving the home side’s dreams to fade and die.
Michail Antonio’s most memorable West Ham strikes.
Slaven Bilic needed a hero to step up to the plate and quickly. Antonio was that man as he leaped to head Dimitri Payet’s ball into the back of the net to tie the score and give West Ham the impetus to go forward and claim a historic victory that will live long in Hammer’s hearts.
“He rose so high, nearly touched the sky,” was exclaimed by the commentator as Winston Reid scored the winning goal, but truly, it was Antonio who did just that on that wonderful final night at Upton Park.
Antonio v Bournemouth – 21st August 2016
From the last game at the Boleyn to the first Premier League game at London Stadium – yet again, West Ham needed a player to step up to cement their place in further history.
With fans still not completely sold on the idea of leaving their beloved home for what was the Olympic stadium, the Hammers needed to ease tensions, at least for a short while, by beating Bournemouth in what was their first-ever league game at their new home.
85 minutes had passed with no sign of a breakthrough with the Cherries down to 10 men until, yet again, Antonio found a way to be the Hammer’s hero.
Gokhan Tore, who the crowd barely ever saw again, whipped a delicious cross into the box before Antonio crept in at the back post and headed into the back of the net.
This type of goal became a trademark of his as he continued to get West Ham out of the mud during such a turbulent season.
Antonio v Tottenham – 27th April 2019
Now from the first game at London Stadium to West Ham’s first game at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Michail Antonio clearly likes to set his marker down and cement his place in the history of football stadia.
Heading into this London derby, Spurs had so far maintained a 100% record at their new home whilst not even conceding a single goal. But of course, one man had to have his say.
Michail Antonio’s most memorable West Ham strikes.
Midway into the second half, with Manuel Pellegrini’s men looking the more likely to score, Marko Arnautovic picked the ball up on the right-wing. The Austrian intelligently picked his head up and played a perfect ball for Antonio to run onto, expertly control with his chest, and fire past Hugo Lloris into the back of the goal to send the away end into jubilation.
But the best thing about his goal? His hip-thrusting celebration, metaphorically setting his marker on their new stadium and, not for the first or last time, breaking Tottenham hearts.
Antonio v Chelsea – 1st July 2020
After football had been put on hold thanks to COVID late into the season, the Premier League eventually resumed when the players would usually be away on their summer breaks.
West Ham returned with two losses in a row against Wolves and Tottenham, respectively, and up came a match against Chelsea that needed to be won if they were to survive relegation.
Having gone into the half-time break at 1-1, the Hammers came out of the blocks firing, and after a neat passage of play, Antonio was on hand to tap in to take a crucial lead for the home side.
Chelsea did manage to equalize, but the Irons managed to earn all three points via a last-minute winner from Andriy Yarmolenko, assisted by the one and only Antonio.
Perhaps just as importantly, Iron Mike’s goal in this particular game catapulted his form as he then managed to score seven more goals in his final six matches – including a four-goal haul at Norwich – to play a significant part in helping West Ham avoid the drop.
Antonio v Manchester City – 24th October 2020
Whilst perhaps not as important a goal as the others on the list, this goal is certainly one of his best.
West Ham came up against Pep Guardiola’s City side early on in the season and gave them one of their toughest matches throughout the campaign, with Antonio’s heroics playing a huge role, as they so often have done.
With the score at 0-0, a Vladimir Coufal cross flew into the box, and with his back to goal, it looked as though there was no option for Antonio to not just score but even shoot.
Michail Antonio’s most memorable West Ham strikes.
But as strong and powerful as he is, the striker held off Ruben Dias – the future PFA Player of the Year – like he was a small and child and maneuvered himself so that he could perform an overhead kick, which he duly fired past Ederson in the City goal.
Antonio v Leicester City – 23rd August 2021
As spoken about earlier, Antonio became West Ham’s record Premier League goalscorer, and he managed it in style.
To this day, despite his form ever since Moyes converted him to this position, people question whether he should be considered a “natural striker.” Well, if his two goals – and first in particular – still have people doubting his position, then they will never be convinced.
Declan Rice roamed forward with the ball, playing a one-two with Aaron Creswell down the left wing, and crossed into Antonio, which he controlled delightfully with his weaker left foot, before he held off Caglar Soyuncu, swiveled and blasted the ball past Kasper Schmeichel to make history.
His second goal was just as fantastic, as he delicately touched a Coufal cross over the Leicester defense before prodding his second of the match and rounding the night off perfectly.