BEFORE the start of the 2020-21 season, few would have predicted that West Ham United would be in contention for a top-four Premier League finish with four games to play. Yet here they are, just three points adrift of Chelsea in the last Champions League-qualification spot at the campaign near its crescendo.
And West Ham might have been in an even stronger position had they been able to count on the presence of their star striker more regularly. When Michail Antonio returned from a month-long absence for Monday’s trip to Burnley for only his 20th league start of the term, he scored twice in a 2-1 win, taking his productivity for the season to an impressive nine goals and five assists.
West Ham’s search for a prolific, reliable striker has seen the club throw increasing sums of money at the problem in recent years yet get no closer to a solution. The likes of Simone Zaza, Javier Hernandez and Lucas Perez each made little or no impact, while £45m club-record signing Sebastian Haller was shipped off to Ajax in January at a £20m loss, just 18 months after moving to the London Stadium.
Little did the West Ham hierarchy appear to know, the answer to their centre-forward conundrum was right in front of them the whole time.
Antonio, who was signed from Nottingham Forest for £7m in 2015, has spent the majority of his West Ham career on the right wing, from where he has been a diligent and unselfish off-ball worker, a willing and rapid runner and a significant goal threat. He has also filled in at right-back on occasion and was widely regarded as a useful utility man rather than a star on whom a push for the Champions League could hinge.
But since being reimagined as a central striker, the 31-year-old has been a revelation. The attributes that had brought him success on his rise from humble beginnings with Tooting & Mitcham United to the Premier League – his work ethic, physical presence and ability to find space with cleverly timed runs – have fostered a late-career leap into the elite.
“He’s contagious. He works hard every single time,” remarked former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, who knows a thing or two about successfully transitioning from a winger to a striker, after West Ham’s Burnley win. “When you play with someone like that and see him battling for everything. More than time to time he will score a goal for you as well. If he didn’t get as many injuries this season maybe they would have been even higher, who knows?”
“He gives us a different outlet,” West Ham boss David Moyes has said. “He can run in behind or hold the ball up. He’s a physical presence, and his all-round play as a centre-forward has improved greatly.”
Michail Antonio has 23 goal contributions in his last 27 games for West Ham ( 17⚽️ 6 ️).
Another two huge goals today. pic.twitter.com/ZcrBhe1l4q
— Dan Woffenden (@danwoff98) May 3, 2021
Antonio’s career has traced a long and uncommon path. From having to supplement his income as a young non-league player with shifts as a lifeguard at the local leisure centre, his first big break came when he was signed by Reading in 2008. But four years with the Berkshire club saw him loaned out five times. After a couple of seasons with Sheffield United, he joined Nottingham Forest and, at long last, caught the eye of Premier League admirers with a season’s worth of fine performances in the Championship.
By the time he arrived at West Ham, then, already in his mid-20s and ready to enjoy the high life in the top flight, he felt he’d found his level, found his home – not only in east London, but, it seems, as a wide player.
“I hated it at first,” Antonio told Sky Sports of his early outings as a striker. “When you’ve got your back to play, they [defenders] come through the back of you. You’ve got to be able to take that hit, and then control the ball, and then find the pass.”
But Antonio quickly adapted to the rigours of his new role. With five assists to his name this term, there is undeniable proof that he has mastered the art of finding the pass with which he struggled at first.
And in front of goal, he has become one of the best chance-seekers not only at West Ham, not only in the Premier League, but in all of Europe. With a per-90 expected goals (xG) average of 0.63 over the last year, according to FBref.com, he ranks in the top two per cent of forwards in the Continent’s five major leagues. His non-penalty xG per 90 average of 0.53 this season is the best in the Premier League; better than the division’s seasoned scorers such as Harry Kane (0.5), Edinson Cavani (0.52) and Mohamed Salah (0.44).
With West Ham’s improbable Champions League dream tantalisingly within reach, the firepower discovered within Antonio will be vital to the club’s final push for a place at Europe’s top table.
"It would be unbelievable,” Antonio said. “Everybody wants to play in the Champions League. I have been here a few years and there have been so many seasons we were fighting to stay in the league and now we have the opportunity for top four.
"We are not going to give up on it. We will keep fighting, keep pushing."
