Michael Antonio became West Ham United's all-time Premier League scorer, netting twice to help secure a stunning 4-1 win over Leicester City on Monday, who sent off Ayoz Perez late in the first half .
Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma opened the scoring for the Hammers, giving it two out of two wins and topping the goals table after a spectacular performance in a poor environment at the London Stadium.
Fornals put the hosts ahead in the 26th minute and ended a flowing move, driving Benrahma's low cross into the net, before Perez was shown a red card for stamping on the Spaniard in the 40th as he Was tossing for the ball.
West Ham continued to dominate and Benrahma doubled their advantage with a simple finish in the 56th when Antonio intercepted a Caglar Soyuncu'a back pass and swung the ball to the Algerian forward.
Yuri Tielemens pulled back a goal for Leicester in the 69th minute when he bounced off a loose ball in the penalty area and passed goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski by 10 metres.
But Antonio made it 3-1 in the 80th when he took a Declan Rice cross in his stride and buried a low shot four minutes later after turning Soyunku before putting the icing on the cake with his 49th Premier League strike for the hammer. done.
With former West Ham legend Paolo Di Canio leading the way in a match tied on 47 league goals, Antonio was delighted to overtake the Italian by picking up a cardboard cut-out of himself on the side of the pitch.
"You have to try and be a professional but I was trying to make history, so it's always on your mind," the 31-year-old forward told Sky Sports.
"I haven't been celebrating recently because of VAR, so I thought I had to make it special.
"The celebration was 'Save the Last Dance'...lift from the end. It would have been appropriately embarrassing if it was dismissed by VAR. You always see me smiling, so you'll probably see me laughing too."
"The fans are still here singing 20 minutes later. The atmosphere is amazing. There's nothing better than hearing the fans roar and score."
West Ham manager David Moyes said he was unhappy with Antonio's first-half performance but praised the striker for his contribution after the break.
Moyes told the BBC: "I was disappointed with the way he played in the first half, but after what I told him at halftime, he did a lot to silence the manager."
"The first thing is to make sure that we keep playing like this. I have challenged the players to find the extra two points that could have been enough to get us into the Champions League [last season].
"I could have asked for too much but what else am I going to do? Stand here and say we want to avoid accusations?"