West Ham star Michail Antonio ruled out for four months after undergoing surgery on hamstring injury
MICHAIL ANTONIO is out until Christmas after undergoing surgery on his hamstring injury.
It is a shattering blow for both the player and West Ham with both enjoying brights starts to the season.
Forward Antonio pulled up lame less than seven minutes into West Ham’s 2-0 Carabao Cup win at Newport last week.
A scan has revealed the full extent of the damage and Antonio had an op on Tuesday.
He will be out for three to four months - ruling him out for almost half the campaign.
The news is an extra blow for The Hammers given that they sold striker Javier Hernandez to Sevilla on Monday for £7million, reducing their strength in attack.
Powerful Antonio is a key part of the forward line and his absence will be a big miss for boss Manuel Pellegrini.
West Ham have won two Premier League games on the bounce to sit seventh in the table - last season they lost the first four games.
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Antonio has been rotated in and out the team during the early weeks of the campaign as Pellegrini works out his favoured frontline.
Robert Snodgrass, Pablo Fornals, Andriy Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson are all vying for the starting spots behind Sebastian Haller.
When the international break comes to an end, West Ham have until Monday September 16 before travelling to Aston Villa, with Manchester United up the following weekend.
