One West Ham United player who has barely featured for us recently now has a crucial role to play for us during the final two months of the Premier League season.
West Ham have enjoyed a fairly decent Premier League season so far, and we are currently sitting in seventh spot in the table.
Hammers boss David Moyes has guided us to the quarter-finals of the Europa League as well, with a mouth-watering clash with Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen on the horizon.
However, Moyes’s job is believed to be at risk, with managers like Arne Slot being lined up to come in and replace him.
That said, if we finish strongly, it will be incredibly hard for the West Ham board to part ways with the 60-year-old Scot.
And I believe that one player in particular could have a big say in whether or not the Hammers have a successful 2023/24 campaign…
34-yo has key role to play for West Ham over final 2 months of Premier League season
The Hammers have some truly huge games on the horizon, with eight massive games to come in 28 days.
West Ham face clashes against Newcastle, Tottenham and Liverpool in the league and two legs against Bayer Leverkusen in Europe all before the end of next month.
With this in mind, Moyes will obviously have to use the entirety of his squad, if we are to pick up points regularly and avoiding losing some of our key players to injury.
However, there is one player amongst our ranks who should be fresh as a daisy heading into the business end of the season.
Michail Antonio has experienced an extremely fragmented season, due to missing three months of action after picking up a hamstring injury whilst on international duty with Jamaica back in November.
Antonio, who turned 34 today, has only played 21 games in all competition for the Hammers this season (Transfermarkt).
He began the season in really poor form but he’s shown really encouraging signs during his past two outings against Freiburg and Aston Villa respectively.
It seemed for all the world earlier this term that Mick was completely done at the highest level, with Moyes preferring a front three of Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus.
However, the West Ham boss has recently dropped James Ward-Prowse, in order to accommodate Antonio through the middle in the centre-forward position.
On his day, he is absolutely unplayable, and the way that he occupies defenders makes so much space for his teammates. I believe that we’re a much more dangerous team when he’s playing. In addition to that, having him back in the side comes with the added bonus of Bowen shifting back out to his best position on the right wing.
I think Antonio has a huge role to play for West Ham during the final two months of the Premier League campaign. A fully fit and firing Micky could make the difference between us qualifying for Europe again and just missing out in my opinion.
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