PlayerWatch on Michail Antonio

The plan had been to put Mark Noble under the spottlight today but after the boss excluded him and brought in Michail Antonio, PlayerWatch reporter Danny Leach turned his attention to the front man! Heres his blow by blow account of Michail’s  afternoon out.

1 – Wins a header direct from our kick off
5 – Loses the ball after making a poor pass from a throw in
6 – Picks the ball up on the right hand side after Arnautovic dummies to receive it. He drives down the wing with the ball and his cross goes out for a corner
11 – Diangana heads the ball for him but he takes a heavy touch when dribbling and the ball is lost to Fernandinho
19 – Shrugs Laporte of the ball to cross the ball to Arnautovic whose shot is tame and goes straight to the keeper
20 – Plays a one two with Arnautovic on the edge of the box but his shot is straight at the keeper
28 – Plays a through ball to Zabaleta which is too heavy
28 – Tackles Fernandinho to send the ball out for our throw in
42 – Receives a long ball out wide and dribbles with the ball down the left wing before being tackled by Fernandinho as the ball goes out for a throw
51 – Is caught offside when Arnautovic plays a through ball down the left wing
57 – Chicharito plays a through ball to him putting him in front of goal but his shot smacks the post
65 – Wins a well contested 50/50 with Fernandinho
76 – Runs into a pack of City players down the left wing after receiving the ball from Cresswell and loses the ball
85 – After receiving the ball from Cresswell he runs down the left wing but with no options he is forced to take the ball out of play under pressure from two City players

Verdict – 6 – Considering the context of the match and given that he has had little playing time recently, Antonio was constantly a handful for the City midfield and defence and provided a direct physical offensive threat. He made some blistering runs and some good crosses in the game. But he was sometimes wasteful and his control of the ball was often very heavy. But overall it was a valiant display.