West Ham’s Michail Antonio, center, and AFC Bournemouth’s Adam Smith battle for the ball during their English Premier League soccer match at the London Stadium, London, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016.
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Michael Antonio, formerly on loan at Cheltenham Town, has scored West Ham United’s first goal at their new London Stadium home.
West Ham had, however, also had to endure a gruelling midweek trip to Romania and, following their Europa League play-off draw against Astra Giurgiu, only Antonio, Sam Byram, Enner Valencia, Gokhan Tore and skipper Mark Noble made the cut as Slaven Bilić brought half-a-dozen changes to his side.
Frustrated by Diego Costa’s late victor for Chelsea in their Premier League opener at Stamford Bridge on Monday, West Ham were also dealing with a host of injuries to key players including Andre Ayew, Payet and Carroll.
Bilic was desperate for West Ham to get that first win under their belt as quickly as possible but unfortunately for him the new era had begun with some all-too-familiar news, with perennially-injured Andy Carroll having been ruled out for up to six weeks with knee damage.
Carroll joined West Ham on loan initially before completing a permanent move from Liverpool, but a series of injuries have meant that he has only been available for around half the matches during his time with the club.
The cause was helped by Bournemouth’s Harry Arter, who eight minutes earlier had been shown the stadium’s first red card.
It was a finely crafted goal, though, as Antonio rose at the far post to head in from close range after a attractive flighted cross from the left by Turkish global Gokhan Tore.
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“It feels unbelievable to be the first Premier League goalscorer at London Stadium and it’s one of those things I can always tell my kids”, he told West Ham TV. Unused subs: Randolph, Ogbonna, Burke, Oxford.
