Tomas Soucek devoted his objective in West Ham’s essential 2-1 win over Wolves to injured striker Michail Antonio after he was concerned in a automotive crash.
Antonio continues to be handled in hospital after the incident on Saturday, with the Jamaica worldwide honoured by gamers and supporters on the London Stadium on Monday evening.
The Czech midfielder opened the scoring towards fellow strugglers Wolves, with Jarrod Bowen scoring the winner after Matt Doherty had levelled the sport.
After his header discovered the far nook within the 54th minute, Soucek honoured his team-mate by doing his celebration, earlier than Bowen held up a shirt with the 34-year-old’s identify on it after netting within the 72nd minute.
Tomáš Souček with a HUGE objective for West Ham! ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/cyyIWkAs1q
— Sky Sports activities Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 9, 2024
Soucek informed Sky Sports activities: “The objective was for him. I devoted it to him. I stated earlier than the sport I actually wished to attain much more at this time. He’s been right here since I got here right here. He’s actually my favorite. I stated it might be powerful for me to play with out him.
“I’m blissful that he’s doing effective, however that is for him. He’s a large participant and he’s in my coronary heart. It was actually powerful for us. I used to be with the youngsters and I noticed this data on the cellphone.
“I messaged everybody asking what occurred and the way he was. I used to be so scared what was going to occur. It was a very powerful week for him, his household and us.
“We had a video name with him, the entire group, earlier than the sport. He smiled to us and gave us all the very best. I can’t wait to go to him. He’s a very pretty man and in addition humorous. He even made just a few jokes earlier than the sport and he wished us all the very best.
“He’s West Ham’s all-time main scorer. He’s in all probability top-of-the-line gamers West Ham have had. He will likely be quickly with us. This stuff can occur, however hopefully he will likely be even higher quickly.”
Bowen: Purpose means ‘all the pieces’
On what his objective meant, Bowen stated: “All the pieces.
“To share that second, he’s not right here with us however I’m certain he [Michail Antonio] was watching and the followers, you heard them. An emotional couple of days.”
Win offers Hammers enormous elevate
West Ham have climbed 9 factors away from the relegation zone with the victory and captain Bowen hopes it could actually encourage a powerful run of type heading into the festive interval.
He added: “It ought to give everybody a elevate. This is a chance now, December might be the busiest time in our schedule all season.
A number of video games are developing and it’s the beginning of a run we are able to put collectively. We go to Bournemouth subsequent week which will likely be a troublesome sport however this might actually begin us.”
