West Ham United striker Michail Antonio has a direct rivalry with one of his teammates it seems.
Michail Antonio found the back of the net for West Ham against Ipswich on Saturday – his first of the season and 68th in the Premier League for West Ham.
The 34-year-old Hammers hitman has been desperately out of form this season, but Julen Lopetegui has persisted with him as his main striker for the most part.
One thing that has never been an issue with Antonio is self confidence – he has set himself a target of 100 Premier League goals.
That is a quite remarkable target considering his scoring rate, age, and the fact that he’s still 32 goals short of the number he wants!
Antonio is clearly still a very important player for the Hammers in Lopetegui’s eyes though.
And is seems like a little bit of healthy competition with one of his teammates is helping him stay at the top level, in his own mind anyway…
Michail Antonio says he has a rivalry with West Ham teammate
In football, they say that healthy rivalries with teammates can be a good thing, especially if they help push you on to another level.
And the Jamaica international has just alluded to that.
Antonio spoke to reporters after our 4-1 win over Ipswich Town on Saturday.
The former Nottingham Forest man told WHUFC.com how his rivalry with Jarrod Bowen is helping to push him on.
Antonio said, “Jarrod and I have a bit of a rivalry going on, and even though he scored he’s still 23 behind me in the records!”
“I just want to break as many records as I can!“
I actually like the fact that the duo have a rivalry. However, it’s clear to see that Bowen will eclipse Antonio one day in the near future, if he remains at the London Stadium of course.
Jarrod recently insisted that he wants to stay at West Ham for the rest of his career, so I have no doubts that he will become our all-time Premier League goalscorer.
However, getting into the top five of all-time may be too much of an ask for Bowen. Tony Cottee currently sits in fifth spot with 146 goals.
I think he definitely will get there if he remains injury free for the next five or six years.
Meanwhile, I would be shocked if Michail Antonio reaches his target of 100 Premier League goals for West Ham.
That said, I really hope he does.
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