Sunday’s thrilling 3-1 win over Chelsea was a victory for West Ham United’s work ethic, according to goalscorer Michail Antonio.
The No9, whose shot arrowed into the bottom left hand corner of Robert Sánchez’s net to give his side a 2-1 lead 53 minutes into our home opener, hailed both his side’s determination to hold an impressive Chelsea side at bay and take their opportunities when they came.
West Ham started the contest at pace and were rewarded with Nayef Aguerd’s early header, but Chelsea came back into the contest, levelling through Carney Chukwuemeka and then passing up the chance to move in front when Alphonse Areola saved Enzo Fernández’s spot kick.
West Ham were having to dig deep to keep themselves afloat, but the effort was worth it as first Antonio scored and then Paquetá netted a late penalty, meaning Aguerd’s second half red card was overcome.
For Antonio, it was an excellent afternoon’s work.
“It was a massive win,” he smiled. “Chelsea are obviously a quality team and you can see the qualities they have in the football they played on Sunday.
“We didn’t have much possession, but when we had opportunities we took them.
“At half-time we worked out how we could stop them getting pockets of space and getting through us. What we sorted out worked for us.
“We limited them when we were down to ten men and it shows the resilience that we have. We kept working hard, and Emerson and Lucas Paquetá had to shut Raheem Sterling down, as he gave us a lot of trouble [earlier in the game].
“Lucas is normally a No10, but he’s gone out there and marked him and defended him. Álvarez came on and helped as well and it showed the resilience we have and showed that we work as a team.
“Three points is unbelievable and hopefully we can carry this on into the season.”
Antonio was also thrilled to open his account for the campaign just two games in, with his 62nd Premier League goal in Claret and Blue paving the way for their second half success.
With a London derby victory under their belts already, the striker and his teammates are hungry for more.
“For my goal the ball broke to Wardy [Ward-Prowse] and he played it first time into my chest,” he recounted. “The full-back tried to get across me, but I held him off.
“I wanted to take the defender on, but I could see that the keeper had taken a step to his left, and I’ve put it to his right.
“I wasn’t sure if I was onside or not, so I only did a little celebration, because I didn’t want to do the worm in case I was offside!”
