Pep gives Michail Antonio playful shove as he praises "really strong" star

Pep Guardiola was caught on camera giving West Ham striker Michail Antonio a shove after he gave Manchester City's backline some work to do.

The Spanish manager was spotted giving the Jamaican international a playful push before praising the 32-year-old for his hard work on the pitch during City's 2-2 draw away at West Ham. The match was underlined in the diary of many West Ham fans due to it being the final farewell of skipper Mark Noble in the London Stadium after 18 tears of service.

The game started off well for the home side, with the Hammers going a goal up after 24 minutes when Bowen rounded Ederson and poked home. Things got even better when Bowen doubled the Iron's lead when he buried a shot past Ederson in the penalty area.

As the match went on, the harder the league leaders' pushed and it took just four minutes after the restart for Grealish's deflected strike to find the back of the net. City then had an air of good fortune as Coufal headed in an own goal from Mahrez's freekick. Mark Noble was introduced to the game after 77 minutes, with City being handed a penalty after a lengthy VAR check and after Anthony Taylor checked the pitchside monitor.

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However, Mahrez couldn't beat Fabianski from the spot and the game finished level. Throughout the match, both Bowen and Antonio caused havoc when making runs in behind City's defense, which led to Guardiola making a special effort to let Antomio know. The video shared on social media shows the pair joking around as the City manager pretends to push the striker away before embracing each other in a warm hug.

The pair smiled and laughed during the friendly exchange which shows how highly rated the striker is for his work at the East London side who managed to get to the Europe Laeague semi-finals before being knocked out by Eintracht Frankfurt.

When asked about the push by Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves he said: "He goes to the gym every day this guy, he's so strong."

He added: "Handling Antonio is not easy. They were brilliant."

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