The Premier League derby between Tottenham and West Ham was meant to be on Friday. With the coronavirus postponing all Premier League activity through at least April 30, the real game has yet to take place.
Still, West Ham winger Michail Antonio and Spurs wide man Ryan Sessegnon decided to hold the game anyways despite their isolation during the shutdown. Virtually.
The two agreed to a match of FIFA between the two clubs, and spent two days promoting the event before grabbing the Playstation controllers and streaming the game live on Twitch.
Letssssss gooooooooooo!! The London Derby is ON!! Me Vs @RyanSessegnon on FIFA, Friday 8pm, loser gives a full kit apology after 👀 Don't miss it!!!!!! ⚽ #COYI
— Michail Antonio (@Michailantonio) March 17, 2020
Even their clubs got involved to promote the event, with the two sides streaming the event as well as putting it up on Twitch.
So no #TOTWHU in the @premierleague Friday night 😢
But the FIFA London derby is ON and will be streamed live! ✊🎮 @Michailantonio vs @RyanSessegnon
⏰ 8pm
💻 https://t.co/q2eOdtM9Dz & @TwitchLoser gives a full apology wearing the other team’s shirt 😬 pic.twitter.com/E6Dn5VeYB1
— West Ham United (@WestHam) March 18, 2020
Ryan Sessegnon came out victorious via a 2-0 scoreline, with both Giovani Lo Celso and Lucas Moura on the virtual scoresheet. The second goal was a lovely bit of play between Moura and Dele Alli in the box, which had Antonio reminding himself the stream had to be kept PG despite his frustration.
Antonio was frustrated with his performance, calling it “embarrassing” at halftime and posting that “The passing was off, shooting was bad and couldn’t tackle,” on social media, although he jokingly caveated that by saying “my controller must have been broken.” After the loss, per the rules of the bet, Antonio was forced to don a Tottenham kit, which he did so extremely begrudgingly.
Which Premier League players would you like to see play each other in FIFA to decide the outcome of an otherwise postponed match?