Michail Antonio explains how West Ham planned to ‘damage’ AZ Alkmaar in Europa Conference League victory

West Ham match-winner Michail Antonio explained how his team planned to “damage” AZ Alkmaar in their Europa Conference League win.

The Dutch side went ahead towards the end of the first half when Tijjani Reijnders scored, and for a moment it looked as if West Ham might already be on their way out of the competition at the same stage as last year’s European exit.

First up, playmaker Said Benhrama scored from the spot on 67 minutes, before veteran forward Antonio grabbed a second 12 minutes later.

Speaking to BT Sport after the win, Antonio said that David Moyes’ side were calm in their approach.

He said: “It definitely was [a tough game], from watching what they’ve done we knew they would play football and they’re a decent team.

“We made it difficult for ourselves, we had chances, we just needed to be more clinical. In the end we got the result.

“We know they’re a possession-based team, they know how to work it.

“We were like, ‘Alright, we’ll let you have it, and on the counter we’ll damage you.’

“I was hoping I dropped on a couple of other things but it dropped on me perfectly [for my goal]. I got the goal, we got the win and we move on to next week.”