Opinion: FA Cup provides opportunity to give Michail Antonio much-needed rest

West Ham are preparing to face Southampton in the FA Cup fifth round at St Mary’s tonight (February, March 2).

The Hammers went back to winning ways against Wolves and talismanic frontman Michail Antonio provided the assist for Tomas Soucek to score the only goal.

Despite the improved performance from the 31-year-old, it’s now seven games without a goal for the usually prolific striker.

Michail Antonio was back to his best today. Composure for the assist and caused all sorts of problems with his pace and power, particularly in the second half. Very good striker’s performance.

— Dan Woffenden (@danwoff98) February 27, 2022

Albeit the three-cap Jamaica ace remains a direct contributor to 18 goals this term, Irons’ boss David Moyes may take the opportunity to rotate in the cup.

With the fixture schedule about to become congested – including a trip to Sevilla in the Europa League – Moyes will need Antonio back and firing on all cylinders.

Here’s how we think West Ham will lineup on the south coast…

Predicted XI: Alphonse Areola; Ben Johnson, Issa Diop, Kurt Zouma, Aaron Cresswell; Declan Rice, Alex Kral; Nikola Vlasic, Pablo Fornals, Manuel Lanzini; Jarrod Bowen.

Predicted Subs: Lukasz Fabianski, Ryan Fredericks, Tomas Soucek, Alex Kral, Said Benrahma, Craig Dawson, Mark Noble, Michail Antonio, Daniel Chesters, Armstrong Okoflex, Aji Alese, Sonny Perkins.

Whilst there can be little argument that Jarrod Bowen is less effective from a central position, there has to be some rotation for this clash.

Moyes will want to qualify but perhaps not at the expense of adding to the workload of key players such as Antonio unnecessarily.