Mohammed Kudus has received the backing of his West Ham United teammate, Michail Antonio, to rebound strongly from his red card suspension.

The Black Stars attacking midfielder was sent off against Tottenham on October 19 for punching and pushing Spurs players in his first Premier League game after the international break.

The initial three-game suspension was upgraded to five, and Kudus was fined sixty thousand pounds after being charged by the English FA.

The suspension means, in addition to the games against Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, and Everton that Kudus has already missed, he will also be unavailable for West Ham’s upcoming fixtures against Newcastle United (November 25) and Arsenal (November 30).

Michail Antonio, who is in Ghana to visit his Samba Stars Academy in Kumasi, said Kudus' absence is a significant loss.

"Starboy, his quality to be fair, he's an unbelievable player. How he dribbles, he scores goals, he has great ambition for himself, and hopefully, we can get some players like that from our academy.

“Well, obviously, he got a red card and he's missing five games, so he's a great miss. He is a quality player and he's someone that we definitely need in our starting line-up.

“Things haven’t gone well this year, but I know he's going to come back fully ready to go."

“Things haven’t gone well this year, but I know he's going to come back fully ready to go."

Michail Antonio on Mohammed Kudus' red card suspension.#JoySports pic.twitter.com/dFggMd5Lxi

— #JoySports (@JoySportsGH) November 13, 2024

Mohammed Kudus has been training with the Black Stars for the past two days in Accra for the last two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The match against Angola will take place on Friday, November 15, in Luanda, before the Black Stars wrap up the qualifiers at the Accra Sports Stadium against Niger on Monday, November 18.