West Ham striker Antonio ‘stable’ after car accident

West Ham said striker Michail Antonio was in a stable condition and “conscious and communicating” after a road accident.

In a statement, West Ham said Antonio was “currently under close supervision in a hospital in central London.”

The Premier League club added: “During this difficult time, we kindly ask everyone to respect the privacy of Mikhail and his family.”

“The club will have no further comment this evening but will provide a further update in due course.”

Essex County Fire and Rescue Services said they responded to the scene of an accident in Epping Saturday afternoon and released a man trapped in his car.

“Emergency services were called at 1.02pm this afternoon following reports of a single-car traffic collision,” it said.

“Firefighters reported that a man was trapped in his car and attempted to free him until 1:45 p.m. The injured person was left in the care of the emergency services.”

Essex Police said officers were investigating a serious crash involving a Ferrari and were appealing for witnesses and dashcam footage.

In an earlier statement, West Ham said their “thoughts and prayers” were “with Mikhail, his family and his friends.”

Jamaican international Antonio, 34, joined West Ham from Nottingham Forest in 2015 and has since scored 68 goals in 268 league games for the club.

West Ham face Wolves in their next Premier League game on Monday (8pm GMT).

Clubs are showing their support for West Ham’s Premier League record goalscorer

Several clubs, including Premier League clubs Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, responded to West Ham’s initial statement on X and sent their best wishes to Antonio.

The Premier League also responded, adding that the “thoughts and prayers” of everyone at the organization were with “Antonio, his family, his friends and everyone at West Ham.”

Antonio is West Ham’s record goalscorer in the Premier League.

He has scored once in 15 appearances for the Hammers this season, scoring in a 4-1 home win over Ipswich at the start of October.

The former Reading and Sheffield Wednesday striker was a key member of David Moyes’ Europa Conference League-winning side, starting in the 2-1 win over Fiorentina in the 2023 final.

Antonio began his footballing career at Tooting & Mitcham, a non-league club, before breaking into the professional team at Reading.

He also played for Cheltenham, Southampton and Colchester.

Southampton announced their support for Antonio on X, as did Reading, Sheffield Wednesday and Colchester.

The striker has scored five goals in 21 games for Jamaica.

Former England coach Steve McClaren, now Jamaica coach, sent a supportive message from the Reggae Boyz.

McClaren said: “On behalf of the entire group of players, staff and technicians, I wish Michail a speedy recovery. Our thoughts and prayers are with him at this time.”