Michail Antonio knows West Ham United’s performances have not met anybody’s expectations in recent weeks.
But, after eight-plus seasons at the Club, Antonio also knows the Hammers will soon rediscover their form, turn defeats into wins and start climbing back up the Premier League table.
As his experience of life in Claret and Blue tells him, that is what West Ham do!
Of course, in recent seasons, West Ham have actually done it far less. Instead, the victories have come more regularly as, under David Moyes’ management, the Irons secured consecutive sixth and seventh-place Premier League finishes in 2020/21 and 2021/22.
Antonio has played a starring role in that improvement, becoming the Club’s all-time leading Premier League goalscorer and netting a series of important goals as the Hammers reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals two seasons ago before lifting the Conference League trophy in Prague in June this year.
After starting the current campaign with three wins in their opening four top-flight matches to storm to the top of the table, those achievements have made West Ham’s recent downturn in form all the more surprising.
But Antonio, who could make his 200th Premier League start for the Hammers against his former club Nottingham Forest, knows that this ebb and flow has been the life of the Claret and Blue Army for decades.
That said, after ebbing to three Premier League defeats in a row, he is desperate to start flowing again when he takes to the field against the Reds on Sunday afternoon.
"I feel positive," he confirmed. "Obviously in the last few games we’ve not been in the best of form, but every game we play, we go into looking for three points. The last time we played Nottingham Forest at home, we beat them four-nil, so hopefully we can go again on Sunday afternoon and get the three points.
"I wouldn’t say our form is cause for concern right now. The season has definitely had its ups and its downs and it’s definitely in a down right now, but we wouldn’t be West Ham if we didn’t do this! I’ve been here nine years now and we always manage to pull ourselves out of it, so we’ll go on a run and find our good form.
"After the way we started the season, it has been a downturn in performances and we’ve been in a bit of a slump, making some big mistakes and been punished for them and that’s prevented us from winning games.
"One thing we know, though, is how to get ourselves out of this and hopefully we can do that, starting this weekend.
"We’re not worried or threatened. We know the quality of the players we have."
