David Moyes has said Michail Antonio's recent uptick in form is down to being more 'focused' on the training pitch.
Antonio scored 10 Premier League goals and contributed a further eight assists for West Ham United last season across 36 games. But so far this campaign, the Jamaican international has only found the back of the net twice and added two assists in 19 games.
The 32-year-old scored in the 2-0 win over Derby County in the FA Cup on Monday for his first goal since November 9, a 2-2 draw against Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup, and prior to that grabbed an assist in the 2-0 win over Everton in the Premier League.
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On top of the finish against the Rams in midweek, Antonio's overall performance over the past few weeks has improved and speaking ahead of today's [Saturday] league tie against Newcastle United, Moyes said the forward has stepped up his game not only in training but in games as well.
"His training has been much better, I have seen him be a bit more focused in his work, he is holding the ball up better than he has been recently," said Moyes. "He is getting one or two more opportunities, but he has probably earned it from the effort he has put in the last couple of games.
"He makes the second goal for Jarrod [Bowen] against Everton. If you are getting closer to goals and assists which I think he is it means he is doing more good things. He has got competition and I said to a lot of the players, you need to stand up and challenge the competition.
"It is not there to take your place, you’re there, the jersey is yours to hold on to, but what you have to do is perform well enough to keep a hold of it. We needed to add players with European football so now we need everyone to push one another to become better."
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