Pablo Fornals opened the scoring for West Ham United before Said Benrahma added and second and Michail Antonio netted a brace.
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Michail Antonio created history as West Ham United beat Leicester City FC 4-1 in east London on Monday night. The English striker scored two second-half goals to break the club’s all-time Premier League scoring record in front of a capacity crowd at the London stadium. Pablo Fornals opened the scoring for the home side midway through the first half before Ayoze Perez was sent off five minutes from the break. After the restart, the Hammers dominated the 10-man Foxes and extended the lead through Said Benrahma. Although Youri Tieleman pulled one back for the away side in the end it proved to be just a consolation goal as Antonio scored a double.
Fornals sent the 60,000 supporters in the stadium into celebratory mode as he opened the scoring in the 26th minute. The Spanish midfielder started the move and finished it off within three passes after Jamie Vardy’s poor pass was picked off by Declan Rice in the midfield. Fornals found Benrahma down the left and continued his run into the box before stroking in the cut-back from the Algerian.
The Foxes were dealt a huge blow when Perez received a straight red card for a stamp on Fornals. Although the referee Michael Oliver missed the challenge, the VAR intervened. After a brief glance at the review monitor, the official reached for his back pocket.
After the restart, the hosts started to dominate the game against the 10-man Leicester. Vladimir Coufal, Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek combined to create an opening but Soucek’s attempt went over the crossbar. Few minutes later, Antonio’s powerful header from Fornals’ cross was kept out by Leicester custodian Kasper Schmeichel.
In the 55th minute, an already bad night for Brendan Rodgers’ side was made worse. This was due to Caglar Soyuncu’s careless back pass. The missed pass went straight to Antonio inside the box. The striker rolled the ball to Benrahma for a simple tap in.
Meanwhile at the other end, Tielemans pulled one back for the Foxes in the 69th minute. He gave some hope to Rodgers’ side, but Antonio had other ideas. The No. 9 controlled Rice’s low cross, held off Soyuncu, and fired in a low shot past Schmeichel. This broke Di Canio’s long-standing record. There was still time for the 31-year-old to complete his brace. Coufal’s cross was prodded into the corner and send David Moyes’ side into the top of the Premier League table.
West Ham manager David Moyes on Michail Antonio’s performance: “I didn’t think he’d made the right choices with the ball in the first half a few times, but he was a different class after half-time, with his link-up play and positioning.
“His goals are typical Mich. He can score so many. I didn’t think he made the right choices in the first half but in the second half he was different class.
“He’s only been at centre-forward for the last 18 months or two years. He’s gone on from there and he’s looking a real handful. His all-round play has improved so much.”
Michail Antonio: “I thought, I’m making history, I’ve got to do something special. Did any of you get what celebration it was? It was an amazing night. The fans enjoyed it, we enjoyed it. There’s nothing better than scoring a goal and hearing a roar from the fans.”
