Michail Antonio has blasted Sergio Reguilon for slapping Aaron Cresswell in the face during West Ham’s 3-1 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, as he told the Footballer’s Football Podcast.
The West Ham forward claimed, two fans running on the pitch to tie themselves to the post, distracted the referee from making a call on that incident.
During a stoppage in play, Kurt Zouma kicked the ball towards Heung-Min Son, who fell to the floor in a theatrical manner – during that period fans ran onto the pitch.
Reguilon ran towards the West Ham defender to vent his anger, before Cresswell stepped in front of his teammate.
That’s when Antonio shared that Reguilon proceeded to slap the West Ham left-back in the face and he was left ‘shocked’ when nothing was done about it.
“Two fans run onto the pitch and they tried to tie themselves to the post,” said Antonio. “I feel it happened at the right time. But, I do honestly feel, because that happened, it distracted the referee from making a crucial decision for us, by the way.
“I don’t know if people have seen it. But, one of our players got slapped in the face. And there wasn’t a decision made.
“Kurt (Zouma) was kicking the ball out for them to take a corner and he’s hit Son in the calf with the ball. Reguilon has run over to Kurt angry. Cress (Cresswell) has stepped in front of him to push him away and he’s slapped Cress in the face.
“So, I have gone ‘there has to be a decision made here’. I have said to the ref ‘somebody has been slapped in the face. Please can you check it’. He’s gone ‘don’t worry, I’ll deal with it blah, blah’. Then the fan has run on.
“There were four or five things for him to think about, so his mind was dealing with a lot of stuff. Then, he goes ‘everything has been checked’. I was like ‘there is no way it has been checked’. – Cress had a red mark across his face. I was shocked.”
From a performance perspective, it was an off-day from those in West Ham United colours.
Only days before, David Moyes’s side played 120 minutes on Thursday night in the Europa League to beat Sevilla.
Spurs did play on Wednesday, during their 2-0 win at Brighton, but they had that extra rest, which in the end, paid off.
As a result, it’s probably ended West Ham’s chances of securing Champions League football at the end of the season and boosted Tottenham’s even further.
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