A second-half comeback inspired West Ham United to victory as they bolstered their chances of qualifying for Europe by beating West Brom at the Hawthorns.
David Moyes’ side now need just one point in their final match to seal a Europa League berth and their highest league position since 1999.
After Declan Rice missed a penalty in the game’s opening stages, Matheus Pereira soon handed the Baggies the lead but right before the break, the man of the moment – Tomas Soucek – equalised before Angelo Ogbonna and Michail Antonio sealed all three points.
It was simply an outstanding display from the Czech warrior in the heart of the engine room as he dominated the opposition at either end of the pitch.
Who was your Hammers MOTM vs WBA?
ANTONIO
SOUCEK
CRESSWELL
BENRAHMA
You can forget about Antonio causing a constant nuisance up top, capping his own performance with an injury-time strike and earning rave reviews from the Evening Standard, as it was Soucek who arguably ran the show on the night.
The 26-year-old beast was graded as the Irons’ best player (8.3), as per SofaScore ratings and it’s easy to see why.
Only one other player for either team managed more than his 70 touches, showing just how big an influence he was in driving the visitors forward, as well as thwarting the home side in their tracks.
Soucek registered double the number of tackles (six) of the next best on the pitch and also chipped in with five clearances, two blocks and two interceptions, via SofaScore – ‘industrious’ would be an understatement.
And that was on top of winning a match-high 15 duels.
But he also contributed further up the pitch, as alluded to by football.london, the midfielder was “an important part of West Ham’s team in both attack and defence.”
The £36m-rated talisman not only notched his tenth goal of the 2020/21 campaign but he also managed to fire off five of their 21 attempts at goal and made 32 passes.
His performance drew glowing praise from the media, with the Daily Star’s Paul Brown claiming he was “immense again.”
Evidently, Soucek was the star of the show up in the Midlands on Wednesday night.
AND in other news, Imagine him & Rice: GSB could form dream West Ham duo by signing £30m “total animal”…