OPINION
While West Ham’s 3-0 win over relegation rivals Southampton on Saturday helped to ease some of the club’s worries, the game produced a fresh concern for the Hammers that could have a big bearing on their season.
Attacker Michail Antonio was forced off the pitch in tears after suffering a hamstring injury, with the BBC now reporting that the 28-year-old is set to miss the rest of the season in a hammer blow for the club.
Antonio has had a tough season with injuries that has seen the speed machine spend two chunks of the season on the sidelines already, making just 20 appearances in all competitions for the Hammers.
The news that Antonio is out for the season may have been greeted unsympathetically by fans, but his will be a big loss for West Ham as they head into the final seven games of their season.
And one man that needs to step up in his absence is Inter Milan loanee Joao Mario.
Up until Saturday, the 25-year-old Portugal international had been massively disappointing for the Hammers, registering just one assist in his first six outings.
Mario did manage to net his first goal for his new club against Southampton, smashing home from the edge of the box after a quick counter-attack.
And while signs against the Saints were promising, Mario needs to step up to the plate and continue to perform as West Ham attempt to deal with losing Antonio.
The return of Manuel Lanzini, which will seemingly be for their next match against Chelsea, will help matters no end, but the Argentine needs help.
Lanzini and Marko Arnautovic cannot carry this side on their own, and Mario is the man who must begin to perform at a high level for the Hammers in the coming matches.
An in-form trio of Mario, Lanzini and Arnautovic will cause issues for any defence in the league, and with several tough games against top-six sides coming up, West Ham will need all the help they can get going forward.
Mario’s move to the London Stadium has not come cheap, with Goal reporting that his £137,500-a-week wages, a £1.3million loan fee and a £350,000 agent fee taking the price of the deal up to around £3.8million.
That is a lot of money for a short-term loan, and Mario must continue to show his worth in the coming weeks as the Hammers deal with the fall-out from Antonio’s rest-of-season absence.