West Ham news: Michail Antonio on David Moyes exit

Michail Antonio has said West Ham will end the season “slightly disappointed” as their target was to qualify for Europe for a fourth straight season.

The Hammers are guaranteed a top-half finish in the Premier League and, while Antonio said it is “not all doom and gloom”, he told the BBC’s Footballer’s Football Podcast that “European football was something we wanted at the beginning of the season.

“We’re still close to finishing ninth and if you’d said that to me three years ago – finishing ninth, we got to the quarter-final of the Europa League – I would have snapped anybody’s hand off,” he said.

“But after the past two years, we are slightly disappointed with that. We wanted European football again.”

Sunday’s game at Manchester City will be David Moyes’ final match in charge following the announcement that he will depart at the end of the season.

The Scot led West Ham to their first continental trophy in 2023 when they won the Europa Conference League. Antonio praised his outgoing boss for his achievements at London Stadium.

“Everything that the manager’s achieved so far has been unbelievable,” he said. “I hear fans constantly saying he’s going to be a legend of the club for the rest of his life, because he’s done something that many managers haven’t been able to and that is win a cup.

“Football’s a forever-rotating Ferris wheel. Managers come in, managers go; players come in, players go; even owners come in and owners go. It’s his time and it’s not a bad time to go, because of everything that he’s achieved and everything he’s done.”

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds