West Ham player says he could barely breathe playing against Fulham

West Ham United go into tonight’s Europa Conference League match on the back of a great win over Fulham.

Antonio scored West Ham’s third goal, but admitted he was struggling to breathe after his goal.

It was a contentious finish with the ball appearing to strike Antonio’s arm.

However, as he scored during a different phase of play after missing his initial effort, the goal stood.

“I didn’t do one [a goal celebration]. I couldn’t breathe.” Antonio said.

“You know when you don’t feel well and you’re on the pitch running around, I was blowing mate. I couldn’t breathe properly.

“Kurt (Zouma) was like ‘you have to dance with me’ and I was like ‘no bro’.

“He got me to do it in the end, but I swear to you I couldn’t breathe. I was struggling.”

Antonio admits he couldn’t breathe against Fulham

The £7m forward was only fit enough to start on the bench against Fulham on Sunday.

There were plenty of calls for Italian Gianluca Scamacca to start ahead of Antonio, and his fitness made the decision for David Moyes.

However, he still made the impact Moyes could have liked, putting the game to bed against the newly promoted side.

Moyes said in his pre-match press conference that Antonio hasn’t trained for the last couple of days due to his illness.

Antonio has admitted he’s been ‘in bits’ and is now a doubt for their home match against Anderlecht.

Any West Ham fans who saw Antonio struggling on Sunday will be glad to hear it’s not his general fitness that was the issue.

Antonio wouldn’t have appreciated Zouma forcing him to celebrate when he couldn’t breathe.

The 32-year-old forward would have enjoyed getting his second goal of the season though.

It keeps the pressure on Scamacca, and West Ham will benefit from having two forwards banging in goals.