Michail Antonio claimed he ‘likes the pressure’ ahead of the Final next week whilst being very honest about a fellow Irons striker.

West Ham’s all time top European and Premier League goal scorer, Antonio has been key to his sides success over recent years and he’s started to hit form this season at the perfect time. He wasn’t quite up to his usual standard for much of the season but since the Arsenal game he’s been immense. 

The striker told WHUFC.com that he ‘just wants to be part of it’ when talking about his involvement in games. ‘I always want to contribute in any way that I can through either goals or assists, but obviously, [scoring] goals is the main mission for me,’ he continued.

With him already breaking records at West Ham, he’s now got his eyes set on the Conference’s golden boot. ‘Obviously, in terms of goals so far, I’m just one behind the leader, so I’m going for that top goalscoring record’ he stated.

The Jamaican international says that he is still ‘buzzing’ that he became West Ham’s all time top Premier League goalscorer but he says he isn’t planning on stopping there. ‘My goal is to always make sure that I do better each year, so me doing better each year means I get more goals each year [and] makes it harder for the next person to catch me.’ He added ‘I like pressure when it’s big pressure’.

Antonio has always thrived under pressure and it’s imperative that he continues this against Fiorentina. As we all know, he has an ability to draw out defenders and bully them unlike anyone else, it’s a skill that will be key if the Hammers are to beat the Italian side.

Now, as mentioned earlier, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for Michail this season. He found himself benched for many games at the start of the season with Gianluca Scamacca keeping him out the side. The Italian has all the makings of a great striker but was failing to adapt to Moyes’ system. This wasn’t helped by him being injured since March’s international break. However, Antonio seized this opportunity and, just a few games later, was back to his usual self.

Antonio has been begging for competition and he recently gave his two cents on Scamacca. ‘He is a quality player,’ he confessed on the Filthy Fellas youtube channel. ‘The problem is he can’t play the way the gaffer plays; he needs a different type of manager to play his type of football; he needs a manager where other players can play off him and that.’

These comments might seem like he’s slating his teammate but, to me, it comes across more as him trying to justify why Scamacca hasn’t scored many goals this season, even before the injury.

The other side of it is that Antonio seems to be backing himself by saying ‘how David Moyes plays is like three up front you are dealing with scraps, and you have to be more of a fighter and that’s not him.’ Antonio knows he is vital to the way Moyes plays and that the club have struggled to find another striker who suits the system.

‘It’s massive, to be fair,’ he agreed when asked about what being in the final means. ‘We’ve not been in a [European] final for 47 years. I’ve won a JPT [Football League Trophy] final, so this is massive for me. It’s probably the biggest thing I’ve been involved in, in my life.’

The majority of West Ham fans are in the same boat, it’s the biggest game of our lifetimes. The fact we could win a major European trophy just doesn’t seem real and Antonio has the ability to be a deciding factor in how the match plays out. If he is on top of his game Fiorentina will struggle to cope with him. With a long break between the Leicester game and the final, the Irons have a long time to rest, reset and prepare for the final. Can they cement their name in East London folklore for eternity?

By Charlie Bass