Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham United
The return of Michail Antonio has given West Ham’s season a kickstart since his return from injury. The Hammers were in poor form during the early part of 2024, and the return of Lucas Paqueta added some bite to the attack.
However, it has been the return of Antonio and David Moyes’ decision to start playing with an extra attacker that has really driven the team forward recently.
Antonio was in a confident mood when speaking to the press ahead of tomorrow’s Europa League quarter-final first leg away to Bayer Leverkusen.
“The thing is, everyone thinks we’re losing this game already. We’ve got nothing really to lose,” Antonio said on the Footballer’s Football podcast.
“One thing with us is when people expect us to lose, other things happen.
“You could talk to Spurs when they came to us top of the league in 2016, thinking they were gonna win the league. Who stopped them? It was me.
“Two years ago, we went to Sevilla away, lost 1-0, came back, and everyone thought it was over, they always win the Europa League and stuff like that. What happened? It was us, knocked them out, home game, atmosphere was unbelievable.
Antonio warns Leverkusen “You ain’t in the semi’s yet”
“Last year, everyone thought Fiorentina had the better team, West Ham is just alright, thinking we’ve done well just to get to the final. Nope, we’re holding the trophy.
“We’re going to take it easy, go there, believe and go out there and do what we can.”
It’s great to hear Antonio in such a relaxed and confident mood. I wonder if he believed he would actually ever get back into the Hammers’ team? There must have been times when he saw the performances of Bowen, Kudus, and Paqueta and thought he’d never break back into the starting eleven.
So fair play to him. Antonio is back, and it’s clear he means business.