According to Ben Dinnery, West Ham star Michail Antonio will be out until December 28 after suffering a knee injury while on international duty with Jamaica.
Antonio has injured his medial collateral ligament, according to the injury expert, who shared the news on his Premier Injuries website. Antonio is the latest Hammers player to sustain an injury, joining Jarrod Bowen and Nayef Aguerd.
In a worst-case scenario, the striker could miss around three months with the injury [Claret & Hugh, 19 November], but missing their main striker for just over a month isn’t ideal for the Hammers.
While Antonio has not been at his best this season and has become a source of frustration for many fans, there is no doubt that their team is weaker without him. So far this season, the striker has been David Moyes’ first-choice option.
With Jarrod Bowen’s injury occurring at the same time, West Ham are left with only Danny Ings and Divin Mubama to choose from, unless another player is deployed out of position to compensate for the loss of their main striker.
Recently, Moyes had been experimenting by playing Bowen as a central striker rather than a direct winger, in a move which showed his worry about Antonio’s form, but a double injury blow to both players will have come as a particular frustration.
Fortunately, his return date is much closer than the doomsday scenario suggested previously, but the Hammers will be without their first-choice striker for a month, which is a bitter blow to any team.
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