September 10, (THEWILL) – The player who has been largely responsible for West Ham’s impressive start to the 2021/2022 English Premier League campaign, Michail Antonio, was named as the EA Sports Premier League Player of the Month for August on Friday by the Premier League.
Antonio started the season with the wind in his sails and in the three matches played so far, the Jamaican registered four goals and three assists for Hammers. The efficiency of his delivery meant that he scored in every match played, finding the net in the 4-2 defeat of Newcastle, the 2-2 stalemate against Crystal Palace and the emphatic 4-1 victory against Kelechi Iheanacho’s Leicester.
There was a historic moment for the forward against the Foxes in their August 28 fixture. As THEWILL reported, he netted a brace that allowed him overtake cult hero and club icon Paolo di Canio to become the highest scoring West Ham player in Premier League history.
Antonio, who celebrated with a life-size cardboard cut-out of himself, for another personal piece of League history, said about that milestone: “I saw that I was quite close to becoming the record-holder and I’ve been going for it. Now I’m looking to go as far as possible so no one can catch me.
“Every now and then I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m West Ham’s record goalscorer’, because when I signed here I couldn’t even imagine being that. Everyone wants to make history at every club they go to. I’ve managed to do it a few times here. I love it, and every time I do it I write it down in my notebook at home.”
The 31-year-old is on track to help the club to history as he won the player of the month award against such competition as Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood, Tottenham’s Eric Dier, Everton’s new arrival Demarai Gray, Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso and clubmate Said Benrahma.
The rest of the nominees did not come close to matching his exploits and he was a deserved winner for August. He will look to keep that up on Saturday as the Hammers go to Saint Mary’s Park for a Matchday four fixture against Southampton.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
