August 24, (THEWILL) – The wild celebrations that marked West Ham’s 4-1 demolition of Leicester City in the English Premier League first Monday night football saw Michail Antonio and Saïd Benrahma set a new record of becoming the first players in EPL history to both score and assist a goal in both of their side’s first two games of a campaign.
They ended Matchday two with another four-goal thriller in the same way they did in their opener to leapfrog the entire League to the summit and give their army of fans the best feelings this early in the season. As early as it is, it is never too soon to set records as Antonio and Benrahma showed in the two matches played so far.
Never before has a pair of players from one club registered a goal and an assist in each of the first two EPL games of the season until Monday night when the Hammers kept up their 100 per cent start to the season, taking excellent advantage of their numerical advantage after the red card issued to Ayoze Perez in the 40th minute.
West Ham were the better side throughout, as they held Wilfred Ndidi and his teammates at arm’s length before taking control of the match. Benrahma benefitted from an Antonio assist to double West Ham’s lead in the second half to punish their defensive lapses. Although Youri Tielemans briefly gave Leicester hope by pulling the score back to 2-1, Antonio’s two late goals, with a Benrahma assist in one, put the game to bed.
It was reminiscent of their stunning second half display in the first match where West Ham beat Newcastle at St James’ Park by a 4-2 margin. That was a breathless affair from the opening minutes to the conclusion with the zeal of fresh legs. It was obvious from the moment Callum Wilson turned in Saint-Maximin’s cross on five minutes to give the hosts the early lead.
Even though the Hammers struck back quickly when Aaron Cresswell’s cross evaded everyone before rolling in at the back post, Newcastle retook the lead, with Murphy heading beyond Lukasz Fabianski. But, West Ham turned it around in the second half with three unanswered goals.
Benrahma was there to nod in from close range in the 53rd minute, from an Antonio cross, to level the scores and after Antonio’s penalty was saved by Freddie Woodman, Tomas Soucek reacted fastest to tap the rebound in. Antonio was not to be denied as he hit a thunderous 12-yard finish, after accepting a Benrahma pass, to wrap up the scoring.
Their eight goals so far have West Ham sitting pretty at the top of the EPL after these two spectacular wins and the David Moyes’ formula leaves them well-placed to continue the progress they made last season, even with the distraction of European football.
Antonio had a little record of his own from a pre-planned arrangement that saw him engage in a one-of-a-kind goal celebration. He became the first ever EPL player to celebrate a goal with a life-size cardboard cut-out of himself and finish off the celebrations by planting a kiss on the cut-out before tossing it away to get back into the game.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
