West Ham striker Michail Antonio is due to return to London this weekend after a fortnight of warm-weather fitness work in Dubai.
Antonio has been doing weight training and other gym load work as part of his rehabilitation programme following a car accident in early December which left him with a broken leg.
The Jamaica international returned home from hospital 24 days after the crash and, on February 7, flew out to Dubai for a fortnight of gym work as he works his way back to fitness.
Standard Sport has learned he is now due to leave the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this weekend and return to the UK, where he will continue his rehab.
Antonio became trapped and needed help to be released from his car following the crash which took place in Epping in Essex on December 7. He was then taken to a hospital in central London and scans showed he had sustained a fracture in his lower leg.
But Antonio is now on the long road to recovery. The 34-year-old believes he can make it back in time to feature for West Ham before the end of the season, but it is believed to be touch and go as to whether he will be ready to play by then.
Antonio’s Hammers team-mate Niclas Fullkrug returned from Dubai earlier this week after spending time working on his own fitness programme at a separate gym from the one Antonio was using.
The German striker is nursing a hamstring injury which he sustained just 13 minutes into new manager Graham Potter’s first match in charge — the 2-1 FA Cup third-round defeat at Aston Villa last month.
Aside from Antonio and Fullkrug, the trio of Crysencio Summerville, Lucas Paqueta and Vladimir Coufal have all been ruled out of West Ham’s visit to Arsenal on Saturday due to injuries of their own.
