Michail Antonio’s first-half brace at Turf Moor on Monday night reinvigorated West Ham’s Champions League dreams by moving to within three points of fourth-placed Chelsea.
The 31-year-old, who has become a fully converted forward this season under David Moyes, made his return to the first team after a hamstring issue kept him on the injury list following their last away win a month ago.
Antonio himself has moved to within two goals of equalling Paolo Di Canio’s Premier League goalscoring record for the club and it was his presence that made all the difference for West Ham on the night, proving a constant thorn in Burnley’s defence and in reality should have claimed a hat-trick.
David Moyes’s side had clearly missed him in the two previous games against Newcastle and Chelsea, the first time they had suffered consecutive defeats since the start of the season, meaning the Hammers sat 6 points behind their London rivals going into Monday evening.
Their Champions League hopes looked like they might be threatening to fall at the final hurdle when Chris Woods converted a penalty twenty minutes into the game after being fouled in the box by Tomáš Souček.
West Ham’s reaction, though, was the stuff of top 4 contenders. It triggered an instant reaction, and within two minutes, they were level, Antonio outmuscling the Burnley centre-backs to head home Vladimir Coufal’s inviting cross to level the game.
Their dominance then ramped up, Said Benrahma – given his first start in five games – was enjoying splendid link-up play with Antonio, Lingard and Pablo Fornals. Just before the half-hour mark, the Algerian dinked a sumptuous low cross into the box which Antonio once again reacted the quickest to, giving West Ham their deserved advantage.
Moyes was high in praise for Antonio, who is now the club’s joint-highest goal-scorer this season – tied with Tomáš Souček and Jesse Lingard – and revealed his honest aspirations for the remaining four games:
“He is in super condition, he’s been working really hard and he deserved his two goals and on another day could have had two…We are trying to keep up with the teams at the top.
"Whether we can make the top four, I’m not sure. But we are definitely in there fighting with four games to go."
Two goals by the returning Michail Antonio reinvigorated West Ham’s Champions League aspirations by guiding them to within three points of fourth-placed Chelsea.
Antonio was forced off against Wolves four weeks ago with a hamstring strain and his absence coincided with consecutive defeats against Newcastle and Chelsea that left the Hammers playing catch-up.
The forward caused problems for Burnley throughout, marauding on both flanks and in front of goal, and he had already made his presence felt when he headed home Vladimir Coufal’s cross to cancel out Chris Wood’s penalty.
He then touched Said Benrahma’s low ball into the net, with the former Brentford player tormenting the hosts who were guilty of some poor defending.
David Moyes praised the 31-year-old who is now joint top-scorer on nine goals with Jesse Lingard and Tomas Soucek although he would not be drawn on his team’s top-four chances.
“He was in super condition, he’s been working really hard and he deserved his two goals and on another day could have scored another two,” said the West Ham manager.
“We are trying to keep up with the teams at the top. Whether we can make the top four, I’m not sure. But we are definitely in there fighting with four games to go.”
He added: “There was a lot of good things to take away from it. All in all, a real team performance.”
While West Ham have their eyes on Europe, Burnley have yet to guarantee their safety and a sixth successive season in the Premier League.
That would be some achievement but especially so this season after the Clarets took two points from the first seven games. They are nine points ahead of Fulham with four games to play with the Cottagers their next opponents.
Burnley took the lead when Wood controlled Ashley Westwood’s long ball and cut back inside only to be felled by Tomas Soucek with referee Anthony Taylor pointing to the spot.
Wood got up to take the penalty himself and slotted the ball low into the bottom corner despite Lukasz Fabianski guessing the right way for his 11th goal of the season and seventh in as many games.
The New Zealander clearly enjoys himself against West Ham – that was his seventh goal against the Londoners since his arrival at Turf Moor in August 2017.
The hosts went ahead through Wood’s spot-kick although the lead lasted just two minutes with the Clarets punished for some poor defending. They gave the ball away in their own half with Coufal’s cross from the right finding Antonio who got between two defenders and headed home.
Benrahma was then allowed time to curl in a cross from the left which Antonio touched into the net unchallenged despite the presence of four defenders.
West Ham were attacking at will and the same duo combined once more with Antonio inches away from getting a touch on Benrahma’s low ball which curled just wide of the far post.
Pablo Fornals fired in a shot which hit Antonio in front of goal but he could not react quickly enough and the ball was cleared.
Fabianski pushed away Josh Brownhill’s angled shot with Jay Rodriguez firing wide in the ensuing scramble after his initial shot was blocked as he sought the 100th league goal of his career.
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