Michail Antonio has heaped praise on Nottingham Forest star Jesse Lingard ahead of Saturday’s clash at the London Stadium.
The Reds make the trip to Stratford for the first time to take part in a mouthwatering game in the Premier League survival race.
Antonio was a wonderful player for Forest and he signed for West Ham from the Reds for £7 million in 2015.
The talented forward will hope to star for the Hammers this weekend as they look to climb out of the relegation zone.
West Ham do appear too good to be relegated but with lots of teams in the mix this season, they have work to do.
A draw against Manchester City last weekend lifted Forest back to 13th place. They can now start looking up and would go eight points clear of West Ham with a win on Saturday.
For Lingard, he will hope to play against his former club at the weekend. He’s been back in training this week and looks raring to go.
Antonio is a huge fan of the Forest star and he’s praised him ahead of this weekend’s meeting between the two clubs.
He told the club’s official website: “Jesse is an actual legend. I saw him recently at a concert and get along with him as well, but when you’re an easygoing person, everyone likes you.”
Antonio has heaped praise on Lingard
The speed demon hasn’t been quite as useful for the Hammers so far this season and Danny Ings is now piling the pressure on for his place.
Similarly, Lingard will be hoping to get back into form with Forest after seeing his progress hampered by injury.
It’s interesting to hear another professional player praise Lingard. The 30-year-old gets a lot of bad press and he appears very misunderstood.
Lingard was a stellar signing made by the Reds during the summer. He will know that he can offer more and between now and the end of the campaign he will hope to improve.