Michail Antonio good enough for West Ham, Slaven Bilic says

Slaven Bilic said Michail Antonio "proved he is a West Ham player" after finally getting his first start against Stoke.

The winger was a £7m deadline-day signing from Nottingham Forest but has played so little that West Ham fans recently circulated a spoof 'missing persons' poster of him.

A long injury list gave Antonio his chance against City, and he was lively and energetic in an open goalless draw.

Bilic afterwards told Sky Sports: "He did well, especially in terms of quantity - how many times he went up there, balls he recovered. He was very direct.

"He proved today he's a West Ham player and he's good enough. We expected that from him. He waited a long time to get a chance but he did really well today."

West Ham have not won in six games, but four of those have been drawn and their manager was happy with the performance of a side missing the likes of Dimiti Payet, Diafra Sakho and Winston Reid.

"We have to be realistic," he said. "Considering the team we put out - a good team, but considering the players missing and their quaity and their positions I have to be happy with the way we played.

"We battle on, and the only way we're going to make this period easier is the way we played today - with a lot of energy and miles in the legs."

Both teams had chances to win the game, Cheikhou Kouyate having a header cleared off the line in the final seconds.

"It was that [kind of] moment that is very important not just for the game but for a whole season sometimes. You need those added time goals. We had a good opportunity and it would have been brilliant, but a draw is a fair result."