West Ham striker Michail Antonio has defended his position after being on the losing end of a bold prediction a couple of weeks ago.

Our Hammers record Premier League goalscorer once again appeared on the BBC Footballers’ Football Podcast, having missed last weeks show – prompting many to speculate he avoided the show to avoid scrutiny after predicting a win for West Ham over Liverpool, which unfortunately did not materialise.

The Reds came away 3-1 winners from the game, with our number 9 previously stating that our Irons would get a result and also suggested we’d finishing above the Merseyside club this season.

“All I’m saying is you guys are acting like I evaded the podcast,” stated Antonio, as reported by the Liverpool Echo. “I was busy, then I was messaging Darren – because Darren is the man who sorts all of this you, yeah – I was like ‘I’m free this day’, he says ‘nah, we did it last night’. Okay, alright. Y’all just wanted the sauce on me. It’s fine.”

Antonio though then went on to say he’d received a big reaction from Liverpool supporters for his comments, and joked that he expected some to show up to his home, should David Moyes’ side been victorious on the day.

“I swear to you, if we won that game, some would have turned up to my house!” added the Irons striker. “If we won that game, I was so implanted in these Liverpool fans heads they would have turned up to my house. It was a madness. It went everywhere.

“The amount of messages I got all week from Liverpool fans after the game. I probably won the game even though I didn’t win because how I’m still implanted in your heads? I’m still getting messages today!”

The latest Podcast appearance follows the news confirmed by David Moyes that the forward has not travelled to Germany tonight to face Freiburg in the Europa League, with Antonio currently nursing a adductor muscle complaint – with Moyes opting not to risk the player ahead of our clash with Newcastle at the London Stadium on Sunday.

“He had some tightness in his adductor, so we don’t want to take any risks with him,” Moyes told the press, as reported by the clubs Official Website.

“We don’t know yet if he will be ready for the weekend, we just have to try and get him through a few days training if possible and see how he is in his recovery.”