Phil Thompson slams West Ham’s Michail Antonio after draw

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West Ham United drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace in the Premier League despite leading 2-0 at one stage.

Michail Antonio

Phil Thompson has told Sky Sports that he thought that West Ham’s Michail Antonio showed a lack of professionalism and plenty of arrogance in the build up to Crystal Palace’s dramatic equaliser at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

The Hammers looked to be well on their way to following up their brilliant win over Tottenham in midweek by securing a crucial three points in their Premier League clash with the Eagles as they took a 2-0 lead into the break.

Slaven Bilic

However, it would prove to be a frustrating afternoon for Slaven Bilic’s men as Palace would score twice to rescue a point.

The crucial goal would come from Wilfried Zaha in the 97th minute just moments after Antonio had had the ball in the corner at the Palace end of the pitch. But rather than hold onto the ball and run the seconds down, the former Nottingham Forest man played in a soft cross into an-almost empty box that was easily dealt with and allowed Palace to regain possession.

And Thompson has slammed Antonio’s decision to cross the ball in rather than try and keep it in the corner until the referee called time on the game.

“They’ll be screaming in the dressing room, they’ll be demanding answers from Michail Antonio,” he told Sky Sports.

“And I hope he’s walked in there and given the biggest apology ever because it was so unprofessional, so arrogant of him. He let his teammates down.”

Of course, Antonio cannot take all of the blame as the ball still needed to get from one end of the pitch to the other for the equaliser to be scored – but there can be no doubt that he made the wrong decision, and will probably not make that mistake again.