Michail Antonio, who was Hammers player of the season last year has been facing injury issues frequently in the current season. The winger has missed out more than half the games this season due to various injuries and it is being reported that he will miss the remainder of the season as he went down with a hamstring injury in a 3-0 win against Southampton. The Englishman was injured when he tried a long-range attempt from thirty yards out. As he landed on his right leg, he felt his hamstring. He tried to shrug it off and continue but he couldn’t carry on further as he was substituted.
Michail Antonio has had a history of injuries as he even had to pull his name out when he was called up for National duty. The issue then also was the hamstring problem which he suffered during a 3-2 win against Leicester. With a relegation battle on the cards, Slaven Bilic, the then manager, rushed him back to face Arsenal at the Emirates and he suffered a recurrence of the same problem which ended his previous season in April. Antonio has been labelled as an injury prone player as he has missed most part of the West Ham’s season as they are trying to secure their Premier League status.
There could be a reason why he gets injured often. According to Dr Ralph Rogers, a renowned sports physician, believes athletes who have had a history of hamstring problems, are more likely to suffer it again.
Antonio who has made 76 appearances in the Premier League for the Hammers has scored 20 times. 9 of those 20 came in last season which helped him earn the Hammers player of the year.
With him being out for the most part of the season, West Ham will probably think that they were unlucky as they didn’t have their best player of last season in the team, they wouldn’t have been dragged in a relegation battle with other clubs. Currently, they sit at 14th with 5 points clear off the drop zone.
A crucial win this weekend against Southampton propelled them to a safe zone from where they will be expected to survive the relegation battle, though they have some tough upcoming fixtures, where they will be facing Chelsea, Arsenal and City in their next four games. With the likes of Arnautovic and Joao Mario in top form, they are expected to prevail this season and should secure their Premier League status.
