After an enthralling weekend of Premier League action there were many names who could’ve been selected.
But our Player of the Week award goes to …
Michail Antonio (West Ham United)
Paolo Di Canio, Tony Cottee, John Hartson and … Carlton Cole.
West Ham United have had some impressive goalscorers in their history but Michail Antonio has now surpassed them all.
The 31-year-old netted twice against Leicester City on Monday night to take his tally to 49 and become the club’s all-time top goalscorer in the Premier League.
And he hasn’t even been a striker for all that long.
Antonio signed for the Hammers as a winger from Nottingham Forest in 2015 and has had stints at right-back during his six-year stay in east London. Under David Moyes, though, he has cemented his status as one of the most prolific centre-forwards in the division.
The attacking line of Jarrod Bowen and Saïd Benrahma mixed with Antonio have started the season on fire with six goals between them and this is much to do with the focal point in the middle.
Antonio’s ability to trap a ball down with his chest combined with his persistent running down the channels makes him a nightmare to play against. Çağlar Söyüncü found that out the hard
The Leicester defender was punished as he attempted to play a simple ball back to goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel on Monday, only for Antonio to get to the ball first before unselfishly playing it across goal for Benrahma to tap home.
Söyüncü was on the receiving end of Antonio’s qualities again as the striker netted his first goal of the night. Antonio received a low cross from Declan Rice before turning the Turkish international on a six-pence and lashing home.
His second was the result of a neat flick between the two Leicester centre-backs before he stretched to poke the ball past Schmeichel.
The celebration after the first was better than both goals, as Antonio ran over to the touchline and lifted aloft a cardboard cut-out version of himself.
“Live on Sky Sports, I got distracted and said it was ‘Save the Last Dance’! Obviously with all the emotion of everything, I said the wrong movie,” he told the club’s website after the game.
“I wanted to be Baby (from Dirty Dancing) and I wanted to run to someone and for them to lift me up.
“Instead of getting someone to lift me up and make me Baby, I decided to lift myself up and treat myself as Baby, you know!”
Nobody puts Michail in the corner
