West Ham United striker Michail Antonio is chasing a new career best in a West Ham shirt when the Hammers take on Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday evening
West Ham United striker Michail Antonio has had an up and down season but is firmly in place as the club’s first-choice striker, for now at least.
The 33-year-old Jamaican international has found himself out of the team for large spells of this season, with both Gianluca Scamacca and Danny Ings preferred to him at times.
Having spent much of the first half of the season playing second-fiddle to Scamacca, there were heavy links that Antonio was going to leave West Ham in January, with Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Major League Soccer clubs all linked. However, Antonio opted to stay, and it proved to be worthwhile.
The former Nottingham Forest and Southampton man has been first-choice for West Ham in each of their last seven Premier League matches, scoring twice with headers at corners against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace.
While Antonio’s Premier League goal tally sits on just five for the season, joint-top with Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma, the club’s all-time leading Premier League scorer and joint-top scorer in European history is on the verge of breaking a personal goal record.
Antonio, the only player to score in all four competitions that West Ham have played in this season, currently has 13 goals in 43 appearances to his name for the campaign. That tally is his joint-best ever for a season, having notched the same number in 47 games last term.
Should he score in Sunday’s Premier League clash with Manchester United, Antonio would go to 14, setting a new personal best in claret and blue. His career best tally for a season is 15, which he scored in 49 games during his only full season with Forest in 2014/15, when they were still in the Championship.
There has been much debate throughout the season over Antonio’s form, but his goal record across all competitions this campaign shows that he has been a consistent scorer and is top of the charts in all competitions this term, two clear of Bowen (11).