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My good mate was stabbed to death but my brother saved me from gangs Michail Antonio opens up on difficult childhood and incredible journey

Michail Antonio is so unassuming, it is hard to imagine him ever being tempted by the bravado of a south London street gang.

Footballers don't usually embrace self-deprecation but Antonio, scorer of five goals in four matches this season with West Ham and called into Sam Allardyce's England squad earlier this month, seems comfortable enough discussing the embarrassment he experienced when he moved from Ryman League Tooting and Mitcham to Championship side Reading in 2008.

'Because I had played non-League football, I was used to trapping the ball and then getting my head up and passing it,' he says.