West Ham United's top scorer Michail Antonio has revealed his eagerness to return into Slaven Bilić's starting XI ahead of Saturday's trip to AFC Bournemouth.
Antonio can't wait to return
Antonio has been the club's star man in the current campaign, carrying on from the previous season, with the forward managing eight goals so far.
The forward's last clash came a fortnight ago in the frustrating 1-1 draw with Watford, but that ended on a sour note with Antonio dismissed towards the end.
He sat out the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Monday night, but is expected to be straight back into the side for the trip to the Vitality Stadium and he shared his excitement on returning to the side.
“I hate having to watch and didn’t really know what to do with myself when I was watching the game,” Antonio admitted to whufc.com. “You always want to play your part, but I wasn’t able to."
The 26-year-old said:"Hopefully we can turn it around on Saturday. Playing Bournemouth brings back memories of my goal against them earlier in the season."
"It’s a good memory," he beamed. "And good to be in the history books for the first goal at London Stadium. So hopefully I can get another one down there."
We lost to the champions
The clash with Eddie Howe's side looks to be a crucial one for the Hammers, as they look to return to winning ways having tasted in three league matches.
That continued on Monday with goals from Eden Hazard and Diego Costa saw them defeated by Antonio Conte's side, Antonio stated that they won't be knocked back by Monday's defeat against who he believes are the imminent Premier League champions.
“We’ve been on a good run away from home," he said. "Monday’s game won’t knock us back in any way. We’ll we raring to go."
Antonio added: “We started off so well against Chelsea and had a lot of possession. I thought we were running the game. Then one slight mistake led to a counter-attack and they punished us."
"I think we lost to the champions," he conceded. "They are a good team – a good attacking team. That’s why they’re clear by a few points at the top of the table."