PICK ME UP
Michail cut out to be a double Hammers hero
WEST HAM’s roaring start to the season continued as Michail Antonio helped demolish 10-man Leicester – and celebrated his first goal of the night by kissing a cardboard cut-out of himself.
The man of the match’s double saw him become West Ham’s top scorer in the Premier League, overtaking Paolo di Canio, with his 48th league goal.
Speaking about his antics after his first goal Antonio said: “The celebration was Save The Last Dance... the lift from the end. That would have been proper embarrassing if it was ruled out by VAR. You always see me smiling so you’d probably see me laughing as well.”
Pablo Fornals notched the opener, before Leicester’s Ayoze Perez was shown a straight red for a studs-up lunge on the West Ham scorer.
Their second goal came when Caglar Soyuncu tried to pass the ball back to his keeper, failing to spot Antonio, who set up Said Benrahma for an easy finish.
Youri Tielemans pulled one back but Antonio blasted home, then stabbed in the fourth to cap a brilliant display that sent West Ham top of the Premier League.
It has taken a long time for the London Stadium to feel like home for the Hammers. And yet, with the first full house in 18 months, the place was jumping thanks to the David Moyes revolution.
Leicester did finish with 10 men but it was more about West Ham’s terrific performance as they were slick, fast and full of movement.
Fornals was terrific, Antonio was a real handful and Leicester just could not handle West Ham’s strength and movement going forward. They thoroughly deserved their win on a night which should also be remembered as one that saw good use of VAR and the giant screen in the stadium.
Fornals was at the heart of the action all night, scoring the opener in 26 minutes and then being the man on the receiving end of Perez’s X-rated challenge.
The first goal came after Jamie Vardy lost possession in midfield, Declan Rice got things moving, Fornals spread the ball wide and then bombed into the box as Benrahma whipped in a cross.
Fornals latched on to the ball and steered it into the far corner with a lovely finish beyond Foxes’ No.1 Kasper Schmeichel.
It got worse for the visitors just before half-time. Perez was knocked off balance by Aaron Cresswell’s challenge, the forward tried to win the loose ball but ended up going in with a poor over-the-top challenge on Fornals.
Ref Michael Oliver went to the touchline screen and showed no hesitation in producing a red before the replay was shown on the big screen and the collective wince told its own story.
It was 2-0 in 56 minutes when Caglar Soyuncu’s blind backpass presented the ball to Antonio who set up Benrahma to score.
Leicester clawed a goal back in 69 minutes when Tielemans saw a shot blocked but smashed in the rebound.
Antonio wrapped it up in the 80th minute with a turn and low shot. And there was time for his second of the night, again using his strength to turn in the box before prodding a shot past Schmeichel.
Boss Moyes said of his double hero: “I was disappointed with the way he played in the first half but he did enough to shut the manager up after what I said to him at half-time.”