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West Ham United will be looking to make it back-to-back Premier League wins when they travel to Manchester City on Wednesday night.
And the east-London outfit will need a strong performance from Michail Antonio if they are to make it a difficult 90 minutes for the Premier League champions.
The Chalkboard
It goes without saying that West Ham will be the underdogs on Wednesday against a City team who are fighting Liverpool for the Premier League title.
Pep Guardiola’s side have no room for dropped points at this stage of the season, but West Ham could make it a very difficult night for the home side.
The Hammers will need to be defensively strong, but must carry a threat down the other end of the field.
Whether Marko Arnautovic will return to the starting XI in place of Javier Hernandez remains to be seen, but either way Michail Antonio could have a key role to play in Manchester.
The attacker was on the scoresheet in West Ham’s 3-1 win over Fulham last time out and his attacking impetus could hold the key to a shock result.
Antonio can hurt City at the Etihad
Antonio is not the silkiest footballer in the world, nor is he going to please everyone with his playing style.
The 28-year-old has bundles of pace and power, however, and has contributed four goals and four assists in 24 Premier League appearances this season.
City will be without the likes of John Stones, Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho on Wednesday night, meaning that Nicolas Otamendi and Vincent Kompany are likely to start as the two centre-backs.
Antonio would beat both of those players in a race quite comfortably, which makes for a very interesting battle on Wednesday night.
West Ham will have to spend long periods without the ball, but Antonio’s pace on the counter-attack could be a key feature of the away side’s gameplan.