West Ham United returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday.
Michail Antonio scored his fifth goal of the season in the 90th minute to snatch all three points, much to the delight of the travelling Claret and Blue Army.
Raphinha had put the hosts ahead after just 20 minutes, but the Hammers hit back through a deflected Jarrod Bowen effort that was later ruled a Junior Firpo own goal.
As time waned, however, Antonio was on hand to apply a calm finish past the advancing Ilian Meslier to ensure victory.
Leeds are a quality team, and you can see just how much we’ve given, the way they play is different, it makes you run and to get the three points is unbelievable.
Michail Antonio
Just moments after scoring the winner, a jubilant Antonio reacted to a second successive 2-1 win at Elland Road.
“We’re absolutely buzzing,” the striker beamed. “Especially after the last few results, we’ve had a couple of draws in the Premier League and obviously the defeat last week but we’re just really happy to get back winning in the Premier League.
“Leeds are a quality team, and you can see just how much we’ve given, the way they play is different, it makes you run and to get the three points is unbelievable.”
The No9 was thwarted by Meslier on a couple of occasions but ultimately kept his composure to stroke home the winning goal.
“I had a few of opportunities before the goal and I didn’t quite manage to take them, but I saw the goalkeeper rushing out, the near post open and I just put it in there. I’m buzzing but I didn’t have the energy to celebrate.”
I just want to keep going, scoring goals and I think that’s six in six for me now in all competitions, so I just want to keep going and see where I end up at the end of the season.
Michail Antonio
Ahead of the fixture Antonio noted that he was yet to score against Leeds prior to today’s game.
“I’ve never scored against them,” the striker continued. “It’s obviously a great achievement to score and I just want to keep going, scoring goals and I think that’s six in six for me now in all competitions, so I just want to keep going and see where I end up at the end of the season.”
The forward was in the thick of the action throughout and was adjudged to have fouled the Leeds goalkeeper after Tomáš Souček thought he’d equalised early in the second period.
“Basically, I’ve jumped up and the hand that I’ve led with has caught the goalkeeper. I honestly don’t think that it’s a foul, but I’ve caught him, he’s gone down, and we’ve scored from it. The referee has made the decision and that’s the decision at the end of the day. We’ve managed to get the three points anyway and we’ll keep going.”
Antonio was also full of praise for Leeds United who battled tirelessly in an entertaining contest.
“They play completely different to the rest of the teams in the league, they play man vs man football. They run all over the pitch and it’s hard to mark because they’ve got people outnumbering you, but we managed to contain it, we had a couple of opportunities that we didn’t take, they took theirs in the first half and fortunately we took ours in the end and won the game.”
The Hammers face yet another busy week ahead with a home double-header, first against Rapid Vienna in the Europa League before Brentford are the visitors to London Stadium on Sunday 2 October.
