Michelle Antonio’s record goal for West Ham was sealed with a kiss.
The fun-loving striker became the London club’s all-time leading scorer in the Premier League era, scoring 49 goals twice in a 4-1 win over 10-man Leicester at the Olympic Stadium on Monday.
Antonio’s first – a close shot on the turn to make it 3–1 in the 80th – propelled him past Paolo Di Canio’s previous record mark of 47, and he ran over the edge and cut a cardboard of himself—to the outside. Celebrated . .
Spinning around to welcome a packed crowd, Antonio, whose goal the ceremony often provided entertainment, ended his routine by placing a kiss on himself before tossing the cut to the ground.
He said the celebration was based on the 2001 film “Save the Last Dance” and that a cut-out was placed behind West Ham’s dugout before kickoff.
“I’m not celebrating late because of VaR,” Antonio said.
night hammer pic.twitter.com/xzydZ9Upux
— West Ham United (@WestHam) 23 August 2021
“I was like, If I want to make history, I have to do something special.” I started celebrating it, so I have to end it by celebrating it.”
Antonio, a converted striker who had played as a winger and even a full back since joining West Ham in 2015, still had time to add a second goal, hitting a right-wing cross. Strike. To finish home in 84th place after the controls. This is West Ham’s second consecutive win to start the season.
David Moyes’s team is one of the five with a maximum of six points after two rounds, and ranks first in terms of goals scored.
“I’ve challenged the players to find an extra two points that could be enough to get us into the Champions League,” Moyes said, adding that his team finished sixth ahead of fourth-placed Chelsea. Two points behind.
“I could have asked for a lot more but what else am I going to do, stand here and say we want to avoid deportation?”
West Ham have not started a top-flight season since 1997 with two consecutive wins. It has scored eight goals so far as it beat Newcastle 4-2 last weekend.
Algerian winger Saeed Benrahma, who has also started the season as strongly as Antonio, set up Pablo Fornals for West Ham’s 26th-minute opener and scores himself to give West Ham a 2–0 lead. did. Antonio played a key role in Benrahma’s goal, converting his teammate to block a back pass by Leicester defender Caglar Soyunku before the ball was played across the field.
This meant that Benrahma repeated his goal and assisted in the victory at Newcastle.
Yuri Tielemens pulled back a goal for Leicester in the 69th minute, who lost a straight red card to attacking midfielder Ayoz Perez for Fornals’ ankle lunge in the 40th. No fouls were initially awarded, but referee Michael Oliver changed his mind after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor.
Perez appeared to lose his balance just before the foul as a result of a tackle from West Ham defender Aaron Cresswell.
“If you look at the contact in isolation, it doesn’t look good,” said Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers.
“But if you look back, he’s fouled, he takes a bite. If he goes down, he gets a free-kick. Because he’s been bitten, he’s pulling and making a tackle. Is. “
Leicester started with a 1–0 win over Wolverhampton.
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