West Ham United left-back Aaron Cresswell has backed his teammate Michail Antonio to challenge for the Premier League's Golden Boot this season.
Antonio scored his sixth goal in eight league games to help the Hammers secure a narrow 1-0 victory against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Cresswell, who provided the assist for Antonio in the 72nd minute from a corner, believes his teammate can continue his bright start to the new campaign and will be in the mix for the Golden Boot in May.
"There's no reason why [Michail] can't certainly be up there," Cresswell told the Evening Standard.
"Last season he had a big injury and missed a lot of games but if you look at his goals to games ratio he's certainly up there so there's no reason why he can't compete at that top end for the Golden Boot."
Antonio notched up 10 Premier League goals in each of the previous two seasons and is now only four short of that tally after less than a third of the 2021-22 campaign.
No West Ham player has ever won the Premier League's Golden Boot, with former striker John Hartson coming closest to claiming the individual award back in 1997-98 when he netted 15 goals, just three short of joint-winners Dion Dublin, Chris Sutton and Michael Owen (18).
Oliver Thomas
