It’s been exciting to watch Mikey Antonio returning to his best as the Hammers finished Christmas and the New Year with a real flourish.

Goals against Southampton and Crystal Palace made it two in three games after he had gone nine without finding the net,

And they took his tally for the season to eight in the Premier League to right as the Hammers bounced back to wining form at Watford and Palace.

He believes he has benefitted from the belief throughout the squad that the Irons always have a goal or two in them.

Courtesy www.whufc.com

The Hammers’ all-time top Premier League goal scorer has looked back to his ruthless best in recent games and has also provided assists along the way in recent games.

The No9 was on target at Selhurst Park, reading Said Benrahma’s beautifully flighted cross to brilliant effect to poke home and spark a  goal scoring frenzy prior to half-time.

That goal came soon after a Boxing Day strike against Southampton and an important assist for Benrahma in the 4-1 win over Watford on 28 December

He told www.whufc.com: “That’s one thing the gaffer’s instilled in us: resilience. We’ve always got to believe – we always know we can score a goal. 

“We managed to score a few goals [against Palace], but then it’s just about keeping them out at the end. The whole way through Palace were creating opportunities, but we managed to hold out, so we’ll take that and we’ll go again.

“I’m a person who always wants to score goals and I always believe in myself and that I should score goals. 

“I’m my biggest critic so when I wasn’t scoring, it was frustrating. Sometimes it’s just about time.

“I managed to get my first one [against Southampton], got an assist last week [at Watford] and got a goal again [against Palace], so hopefully I can keep making goal contributions to help the team.”

“One thing we’ve got is our resilience,” the forward confirmed. “If you look at our record from 2021, only five teams won more Premier League points than us. If we can do that in a calendar year, why can’t we do that over a season?

“This season, I’ve been able to look after my body right and do the right things, so hopefully I can keep going and have a good run.

“We’ve got the quality, but you’ve also got to match it with the work rate. That’s one thing the top teams do – they’ve got quality players, but also work rate – and that’s one thing we’re doing. Hopefully we can keep pushing on for the rest of the season.”