West Ham's Michail Antonio: We have to find a way of stopping Everton star Romelu Lukaku next time

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James Benge31 October 2016

Michail Antonio has urged his West Ham team-mates to get over their problems with Romelu Lukaku in time for their next encounter with the Everton striker.

Lukaku has scored in all nine of his matches against the Hammers as Everton brought their winless run to an end with a 2-0 victory at Goodison Park. The Belgian international was on hand to head home as Yannick Bolasie flicked a cross in from Seamus Coleman’s blocked shot.

Ross Barkley scored the second from a Lukaku cross, scant reward for a mostly impressive display by the visitors, who had had much the better of the opening exchanges.

What West Ham seemed to lack was a finisher as incisive as Lukaku, who has proven to be a scourge for the Hammers since arriving at Everton in 2013. Antonio wants to see the run ended when the two sides meet again in April.

9


 Consecutive games in which Lukaku has scored against West Ham

“At the beginning of the game I thought we dominated the game in the opening 25 minutes,” Antonio told the club website. “We were getting good balls into the box but didn't manage to convert them.

“After that the game went 50/50 and I thought their first goal was a bit lucky. It took a ricochet and then bounced back to Lukaku who put the ball into an empty net.

“We need to try and find a way of stopping Lukaku. We just have to pay more attention towards him and stop him scoring in the next game.

“These things happen in football. We have got to pick ourselves and go again.

“We could sense it was not going to be our day. Things were not coming off for us but we still put in a good performance and kept fighting until the end.”

West Ham return to action at the London Stadium on Saturday as they host a Stoke side who, ahead of Monday’s clash with Swansea, are showing signs of recovery after a woeful start to the season.

Should Mark Hughes’ side avoid defeat they will leapfrog the Hammers, who would then slip down to 17th place in the table. It would serve to reaffirm that, whilst West Ham’s form is improving, there is a long way to go for Antonio and company.

“We have to pick ourselves up because we were unbeaten in four games and we know we can do it again,” Antonio added.

“We want another win next weekend against Stoke at London Stadium.”

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