{"id":533854,"date":"2023-10-31T05:32:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T05:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/?p=533854"},"modified":"2023-10-31T05:32:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T05:32:43","slug":"ollie-watkins-cited-as-west-ham-told-to-complete-striker-signing-in-january-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/ollie-watkins-cited-as-west-ham-told-to-complete-striker-signing-in-january-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"Ollie Watkins cited as West Ham told to complete striker signing in January – expert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gabby Agbonlahor<\/strong> has insisted West Ham are “crying out for” a clinical striker like Ollie Watkins as the January window approaches.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former Aston Villa striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider<\/strong>, insisted first-choice hitman Michail Antonio has been “poor” and is “not scoring enough goals”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antonio<\/a>, 33, started for the 10th straight Premier League game during the loss against Everton on Sunday (29 October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"West<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Jamaica international is eight games without a goal in the top flight, having notched his last strike in a 3-1 win over Brighton in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danny Ings has come in for Antonio in Europa League fixtures – after Gianluca Scamacca departed for Atalanta in the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Irons have lost each of their last three games across all competitions – including a 2-1 away defeat at Olympiakos last week (26 October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agbonlahor told Football Insider<\/strong>\u2019s Ewan Kingsbury: \u201cI think Michail Antonio was poor in the game against Villa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not scoring enough goals. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVilla have got Watkins, but by comparison, West Ham are missing firepower.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re relying on Danny Ings and Antonio. Kudus is a good player, and so are Paqueta, Bowen, Benrahma.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut they\u2019re missing a clinical striker down the middle. That\u2019s what West Ham, and a couple of other clubs, are crying out for.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWest Ham have struggled with it for years.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"West<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Antonio will be 34 at the end of the season – which is when his contract at the London Stadium is due to expire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His best seasons came between 2019 and 2022 when he scored 10 league goals in three straight campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other news, West Ham board eye Moyes replacement as due diligence begins.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabby Agbonlahor has insisted West Ham are “crying out for” a clinical striker like Ollie Watkins as the January window approaches. The former Aston Villa striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, insisted first-choice hitman Michail Antonio has been “poor” and is “not scoring enough goals”. Antonio, 33, started for the 10th straight Premier League game …<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":529970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverart":"\"\"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","_grv_disable_ads":false,"grv_featured_categories":""},"categories":[4,18923,1048],"tags":[117],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533854"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533854"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":533911,"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533854\/revisions\/533911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}