West Ham United returned to winning ways on Sunday afternoon as the Hammers beat relegation-threatened Everton 2-1 at the London Stadium thanks to goals from Aaron Cresswell and Jarrod Bowen.
The former opened the scoring with an excellent free-kick before half-time but saw his side lose their lead when Toffees defender Mason Holgate saw a volley deflect into the back of the net early in the second half.
However, the Irons soon regained their lead as Bowen, back from injury after a month out, tapped the ball into an empty net after Michail Antonio saw a shot parried by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Despite the victory for his side, it was another tricky afternoon for Antonio, who now hasn’t scored a Premier League goal since New Year’s Day.
According to SofaScore, the Jamaica international missed two big chances whilst also having just 43 touches all game. Furthermore, the 32-year-old lost the ball on 13 occasions, an average of every 3.3 touches.
The striker was able to get shots away against a leaky Everton defence that had to deal with being down to ten men in the second half when Michael Keane was shown a second yellow card.
However, none of them were too troublesome with one hitting the target, one going off target and the other blocked.
In fairness to Antonio, the striker did work hard, winning 11 ground duels out of an attempted 17 at a 64.7% success rate whilst also winning half of his aerial duels (two out of four).
Moreover, the 32-year-old provided three key passes, although he failed to complete more than three-quarters of his passes with a passing accuracy of 74%.
There was little defensive contribution either with zero tackles, interceptions, blocks and clearances as well as committing two fouls.
Being David Moyes’ side’s only senior striker certainly comes with baggage and the 32-year-old is carrying high expectations upon his shoulders, with the East London side competing for both European qualification and the Europa League title.
The Jamaica international had started the season in stellar fashion, scoring four goals in his opening three Premier League outings. However, those four goals currently make up half of his league goal tally for the season in April.
There’s no doubt that Moyes will be looking to add at least one striker to his squad in the summer, regardless of how his side finish the campaign.
Whether or not Antonio is going to be in the Scotsman’s plans is still yet to be revealed after another afternoon where the striker let his manager down.
AND in other news: Forget Bowen: West Ham “explosion” with 95 touches showed he’s a “revelation” today