West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski hailed West Ham attacker Michail Antonio after his display against Watford on Saturday.
The Hammers shot-stopper took to his personal Instagram to call his 29-year-old teammate a “game changer” after West Ham’s official Instagram asked fans about the impact Antonio made in the 3-1 win against the Hornets.
Manuel Pellegrini opted to not start Antonio against Watford on Saturday but brought the Hammers winger on to replace Andriy Yarmolenko in the 55th minute of the match.
OPINION
Fabianski is spot-on to call Antonio a game-changer as that was exactly what he was on Saturday. The 29-year-old turned the game in the Hammers’ favour as his injection of pace and enthusiasm was too much for Watford’s tiring defence to handle. Antonio had two shots at goal, both hit the target, made one key passes and averaged a decent rating of 6.61 for his display against Watford (Source: WhoScored). While Antonio arguably deserved to score higher than 6.61 for his latest performance, after all it was clear his presence unsettled the Hornets, at least Fabianski recognised his efforts. It will be interesting to see if Pellegrini continues to use Antonio as an impact substitute rather than start him as so far this season he does seem to relish coming off the bench rather than playing a game from the outright. However given that Antonio seems enthusiastic to play every time he comes onto the pitch, he doesn’t seem the type of player who’d be happy with a bit-part role.
