Southampton writer Glen de la Clour has claimed that an earlier incident with Jack Stephens influenced the sending off of Michail Antonio.
The Saints earned a point in a largely bland 0-0 draw at home against West Ham. However, in the final moments of the game, Antonio provided the most newsworthy incident of the fixture as he managed to pick up a second yellow card.
While discussing the dismissal on the Total Saints podcast, De la Clour claimed that a prior coming together between Stephens and the Hammers’ forward proved to be a telling factor in the final outcome.
He explained (20:41): “When he [Stephens] had that wrestling match with Antonio out on the wing and ended up getting thrown over, he was – I don’t know if you saw his face – he was laughing his head off.
“When he was on the ground, like, he knew he was winding him up. And I think that was a major contributor to Antonio gave himself sent off later on.”
TIF thoughts on Michail Antonio, Jack Stephens, and Southampton…
The Hammers’ forward had already been cautioned after he clashed with Stephens earlier on in the match and De la Clour seems to think this heated incident caused the striker to lose his cool later on in the game.
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Antonio received his marching orders for lunging towards the ball and catching Moussa Djenepo. It’s certainly not the kind of tackle a calm player would make, which helps prove De la Clour’s claim.
The incident, however, occurred too late to change the outcome of the game. And so the draw means, Southampton are still yet to register a win in the league so far, with one loss and three draws to their name.
Even still, Stephens has enjoyed a solid start to the season – starting in every Premier League game so far – and he will have likely have been pleased to get the better of Antonio on this occasion.