Tomáš Souček contributed significantly to the sensational victory of West Ham United in the exposed London derby with Chelsea. The Czech midfielder played the whole duel, twice got the ball behind the back of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, he did a lot of black work and he reaps admiration for his performance in the British Isles.
Souček was one of the main heroes of manager David Moyes’ team on a hot Wednesday night at the London Olympic Stadium.
The English media do not doubt it either. They generally describe the performance of the twenty-five-year-old midfielder as highly above average.
Football.London has the furthest rating. He gave Souček a grade of 9 and named him the best player of the team together with the winger Jarrod Bowen.
“One goal was unquestionably recognized, the other looked like a tower and after an excellent first half he deserved it. After the break it was the same from him, he showed an incredible shift, won a lot of balloons and was generally excellent,” the website wrote in his review.
As a shield midfielder alongside the young captain Declan Rice, he showed off his typically impressive running performance, and during the wing events he immediately sprinted to the lime to take advantage of his above-standard abilities at the end of the header.
He often played a major role in the defensive standards and, by unpleasant attacks throughout the match, disrupted the passing of the creative stars of Chelsea.
In the 13th minute, Souček directed a successful presink at the big lime Blues, the ball was kicked to Michael Antonio and he had the first big chance until then, hitherto very hilarious Hammers.
After twenty minutes of play, he first became enthusiastic about the fights against N’Gol Kanté, but then kicked in a difficult position in the middle of the field. Tammy Abraham’s attack then helped to pacify and gestured to teammates.
In the 25th minute he fought the ball, played it precisely forward and a few seconds later he was already guarded on a small lime by stopper Antonio Rüdiger, the center flew just above him. In a few minutes, he slipped away the dangerous center of Marcos Alonso in his own penalty area.
The 34th minute offered the first key moment.
After a corner, Bowek Souček hit the ball more than twice on a small lime, which he finally got behind Kep. For many minutes, the VAR examined the position of the recumbent Antonia, whose head was in a decimeter offside. Referee Atkinson finally assessed the difficult situation in such a way that the West Ham striker interfered with the goalkeeper and did not recognize the goal.
Moyes was indignant after the match. “It annoys me. Too many small decisions go against us, it’s not right, fortunately it didn’t affect the boys,” he said. Antonio made it clear again that “he doesn’t like VAR at all.”
Chelsea took the lead after Willi’s converted penalty after Issa Diop’s foul on Christian Pulišič. But even before the half, the Hammers equalized and Souček was there again.
He rebuilt the three-man train with stoppers Diop and Ogbonna in front of the corner, as soon as Bowen kicked the ball, detached himself from them, headed for the back pole, where he climbed the back of Chelsea captain César Azpilicueta, and this time doubt.
A completely different, more confident West Ham suddenly entered the second half. He held the ball much more and had more of the game. Souček played one of the important roles in this, but of course he did not forget about the defense either.
In the beginning of the second act, he disarmed the dangerous Pulišič with a perfect slide and then watched the beautiful combination of teammates directed by Rice. Bowen centered on the small lime where Antonio made his mark.
Chelsea then, of course, switched on to a higher gear and locked West Ham. In the 72nd minute, Willian equalized with a fantastic direct kick. In the very end, however, the alternating Ukrainian Andrei Jarmolenko ran away and decided with an accurate shot.
Even in this most crucial moment, the tireless Souček had his fingers. Or rather, your centimeters and kilograms. Just as he broke down at his goal of Azpilicuet, he was able to roll up Kante’s own lime.
He started a quick counter, which ended with the third goal.
West Ham won an important win, detached three points from the relegation zone and Tomáš Souček approached to turn his Premier League hosting into a transfer. This will happen if the Hammers stay in the elite English competition. Another extremely important duel awaits them on Newcastle on Sunday.
Check out West Ham’s third goal in the match against Chelsea:
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