West Ham United fans will have let out a huge groan when Michail Antonio was withdrawn against Arsenal last night, with his substitution coming just 45 minutes after his return from injury.
Antonio, who is West Ham’s leading scorer this season, was taken off by Slaven Bilic at half-time when the game was still goalless.
Arsenal would go on to score three second-half goals through Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud but the real concerns would have been surrounding Antonio.
Fortunately though, Antonio’s withdrawal was not due to a reoccurrence of injury and was instead due to illness- which was revealed on social media by injury analyst Ben Dinnery.
Antonio was taken off at half-time due to illness. Not a recurrence of his previous hamstring injury. #WHUFC
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) April 5, 2017
The news hands a huge boost to West Ham ahead of their weekend’s crucial clash with Swansea City, where the Hammers will be desperate to end a run of five consecutive Premier League defeats.
Victory against the Swans would give Slaven Bilic’s side an eight-point cushion over the relegation spots, whereas a defeat would see the Hammers sit just two points off the bottom-three.
