West Ham United striker who just got back from injury, Michail Antonio has admitted he was exhausted after coming on as a late substitute for West Ham United at Everton on Saturday.
The West Ham striker is continuing to work his way back to full fitness after a knee injury kept him sidelined between November and early February.
After starting against Nottingham Forest on his return to the side, Michail Antonio has come off the bench in wins over Brentford and Everton.
And Antonio has admitted that he was ‘dead’ after being introduced into the action late on at Everton.
Antonio says he was exhausted during Everton win
Speaking on the Footballer’s Football Podcast, Antonio admitted he was struggling after just 10 minutes on the pitch on Saturday.
“I came on in like the 75th minute and I was already dead. I was dead. After like 10 minutes,” the Hammers striker said.
“The craziest thing about it is that Jarrod [Bowen] was in front of me, I saw him about to nick it, and I was like I ain’t going.
“I saw Edson [Alvarez] going and thought I’m going to sit in DM here, just in case it doesn’t work out for us.”
After featuring three times since his return from a knee injury, you’d have expected Antonio to be closing in on full match sharpness soon.
The striker already admitted he endured a tough afternoon on his return to the side at Forest a few weeks back.
But with games set to come thick and fast from here on out for the Hammers, Antonio should get plenty of opportunities over the coming weeks.
Indeed, West Ham face a round of 16 Europa League clash against SC Freiburg tomorrow evening before hosting Burnley this Sunday.
Moyes will surely be forced to rotate his side at various points and this could represent a decent opportunity to hand Antonio further minutes as he continues to build his fitness.