After a nine-game goalless run West Ham striker Michail Antonio has got two in his last three and is looking back to his best once more.
The Jamaican international cut a frustrated figure during his barren run but with few alternative options in his squad, David Moyes stuck with his main goalscoring threat and has been repaid for his faith.
Bar a one-game suspension in September and one half of football on Boxing Day, when Antonio was rested due to a recent bout of COVID and the hectic fixture schedule, the striker has been an ever-present in the Hammers league team and has an impressive eight goals and five assists to his name in 19 appearances.
After a fine start to the season, the Hammers form dipped a little after the November international break where they went on a run of just one win in seven and were some way off their free-scoring best.
With six points and seven goals during their last two matches, Antonio is confident West Ham are back and a threat to any team they face.
"That’s one thing the gaffer’s instilled in us: resilience. We’ve always got to believe – we always know we can score a goal," Antonio said.
"We managed to score a few goals [against Crystal Palace], but then it’s just about keeping them out at the end. The whole way through Palace were creating opportunities, but we managed to hold out, so we’ll take that and we’ll go again.
"I’m a person who always wants to score goals and I always believe in myself and that I should score goals.
"I’m my biggest critic so when I wasn’t scoring, it was frustrating. Sometimes it’s just about time. I managed to get my first one [against Southampton], got an assist last week [at Watford] and got a goal again [against Palace], so hopefully I can keep making goal contributions to help the team."
The wins either side of New Year have kept the Hammers in contention for a top-four spot and has seen them close the gap on Arsenal to just one point and Antonio sees no reason why West Ham cannot keep up their Champions League charge.
"One thing we’ve got is our resilience," he added. "If you look at our record from 2021, only five teams won more Premier League points than us. If we can do that in a calendar year, why can’t we do that over a season?
"This season, I’ve been able to look after my body right and do the right things, so hopefully I can keep going and have a good run.
"We’ve got the quality, but you’ve also got to match it with the work rate. That’s one thing the top teams do – they’ve got quality players, but also work rate – and that’s one thing we’re doing. Hopefully we can keep pushing on for the rest of the season."
