Michail Antonio joked that his latest strike is helping to keep Jarrod Bowen at bay in the race at the top of West Ham United’s all-time Premier League goals rankings, following the Hammers’ thumping 4-1 win over Ipswich Town.
The 34-year-old notched his first of the season with just 47 seconds on the clock against the Tractor Boys at London Stadium, extending his record to 68 in the top tier and making it 101 direct Premier League goal involvements in total.
Mohammed Kudus restored the lead for the Irons after Liam Delap had equalised for Ipswich, before Bowen fired in for the 45th time in the Premier League, and then Lucas Paquetá put gloss on the scoreline 21 minutes from time.
The result marked West Ham’s first home three-point haul of the campaign, and while Antonio was delighted with the all-round team performance, he insisted he is ready to play a big role in the Irons' success this season.
“Jarrod and I have a bit of a rivalry going on, and even though he scored he’s still 23 behind me in the records!” said our No9, whose assist at Brentford last weekend saw him become the first West Ham player ever to break the 100-goal involvements barrier in the Premier League.
“I just want to break as many records as I can! Some people talk about my age, but it’s just a number and I think I’m showing that. Hopefully I can keep pushing on, and keep going for a long time.
“It was a much better performance. We’d seen lots of positives and negatives in the previous games, but we’ve been learning a new way to play and things take time. The positives outweighed the negatives today, and this performance should stand us in good stead.”
Antonio picked out two of the Hammers’ newest recruits for praise at the full-time whistle, with defenders Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jean-Clair Todibo impressing at the back throughout the 90 minutes against Ipswich.
Wandsworth native Antonio will now spend the next two weeks on international duty with Jamaica, when he hopes for more positive results against Nicaragua and Honduras in the CONCACAF Nations League that could breed extra momentum for him to bring back to east London.
He added: “Aaron and Jean-Clair have both got lots of qualities, and they’ve been great additions to the team. Aaron did great things at Manchester United for a number of years, so it was amazing to bring him in, and Jean-Clair is great on the ball, as well as being strong and fast. It’s exciting and encouraging for the whole team going forward.
“Going away on international duty will be good now. We came third in the Nations League earlier this year, so we want to do well again. I’m hopeful we can get the results we’re after, and then we can kick on back at West Ham.”
