Michail Antonio chose not to take part in his weekly football podcast with Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson after seeing his double Liverpool prediction go wrong.
Antonio sent social media crazy last week after boldly backing West Ham United to win at Anfield, before going on to claim the Hammers would also finish above the Reds in the table this season.
David Moyes’ side, of course, subsequently fell to a 3-1 defeat on Sunday afternoon, during which Antonio failed to score and was substituted as the game entered the final 15 minutes.
Plenty of Liverpool fans were quick to poke fun at the Jamaica international after his pre-match comments horrendously backfired, though the 33-year-old has refused the opportunity to respond to his remarks.
Doing a no-show on his Footballer’s Football Podcast, which also features Wilson on a weekly basis, it seems Antonio is not yet ready to own up to his misjudgement.
Kicking things off on the podcast, Wilson began: “Has he run away after his shambles of a performance?” Sharing a joke with host Rickie Haywood-Williams, the pair laughed as they listened back to Antonio’s Liverpool opinions.
“Wow, I think that says it all,” said Wilson after listening back to the audio. The Newcastle star continued: “He has come with a very blunt prediction and, for me, I’m not a Liverpool fan but I received a lot of messages from people who do support Liverpool. [Adebayo] Akinfenwa even put a post on his Instagram, sending a few shots about him.
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“For me, Michail is Michail and he’s not here to defend himself, which is a difficult one. When you put a statement out like that… If he had said that statement and they had gone on and beat Liverpool, Michail would be sitting here tonight under any circumstances. The fact he made that prediction, went out there and had no goals, no assists, no shots on target, no aerial duels won; he lost the ball ten times and played 74 minutes and then got dragged. If it was me, I wouldn’t show my face either!”
Host Haywood-Williams then suggested his absence may be related to the forward being with the West Ham squad ahead of their Carabao Cup clash away at Lincoln City this evening. Dismissing this idea, Wilson added: “He would be dialling in from his team hotel [if he was right], that’s a fact.”