West Ham starlet Ben Johnson has confirmed that the celebration for his goal scored against Aston Villa was a tribute to a hilarious viral video of him as a teenage schoolboy.
The 21-year-old defender recreated the dance he did with Mundian To Bach Ke by Panjabi MC playing in the background.
After the match, Johnson said: “I was about 14 then. The lads were battering me about it this morning!
“Cressy [Aaron Cresswell] said I had to do it if I scored so I had to, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Johnson also gave credit to Michail Antonio after he scored a superb goal for West Ham against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Speaking post match the young Hammer said Michail Antonio inspired him by saying “You know what, the other day in the game against City, Micky said use your left foot and come inside, he said that to me at half-time. I tried it in the game against City and I tried it again today, the space opened up for me. I just tried to place it and be relaxed as possible and it went in.”
Johnson won’t be making it easy for Vladimir Coufal to regain his first choice right back anytime soon.
But it again demonstrates the competitive nature of things within the squad right now – the first time time in many years we have been in such a position.
And it’s brilliant the mix between excellent signings and developing academy players has reached such a level with Johnson beginning to tick every box at right back whilst being able to play on the left side as defender or wing back.