West Ham star Michail Antonio has been brutally mocked for his performance against Liverpool last weekend by Newcastle’s Callum Wilson. The striker was substituted off by David Moyes after 75 minutes after failing to make any sort of impact against the centre-back partnership of Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk.
West Ham have made a strong start to the season and spirits were understandably high heading into their match with the Reds. However, Antonio failed to temper expectations when revealing that he felt that the Hammers would finish above Liverpool this season and that they would be victorious at Anfield on Sunday.
He told the BBC’s Footballers Football Podcast: “I’m backing myself over Liverpool. You know what, I think we are going to finish higher than Liverpool this season. I’m putting it out there,’ the forward said. I watched the game [Wolves vs Liverpool] because it was before our game and Wolves could have run away with it! They had quite a few opportunities. We’ve got them this weekend and it’s a six-pointer. We’ve got them!’”
It wasn’t meant to be on the day for West Ham though and Liverpool ran out worthy winners with a 3-1 victory, with Jarrod Bowen scoring the away side’s goal. Antonio was consequently mocked by Wilson for his prediction after the match and because he opted not to attend the following recording and attempt to defend himself and explain what he felt went wrong in Merseyside.
Wilson laughed: “Where’s Michail? Has he run away after his shambles of a performance? If he’d have said that statement and [West Ham] had gone and beat Liverpool, Michail would be sitting here tonight under any circumstances.
“The fact he made that prediction, had no goals, no assists or shots on target, no aerial duels won, lost the ball 10 times, played 75 minutes before being dragged, for me personally, I wouldn’t show my face either!”
