Tomas Soucek has told West Ham team-mate Michail Antonio that he must score more goals if the Hammers are going to achieve his lofty ambition of finishing above Liverpool in the Premier League this season. Antonio raised a few eyebrows with his recent comments ahead of the Hammer’s trip to Anfield this Sunday.
“I am backing myself over Liverpool,” Antonio said on the Footballer’s Football Podcast. “You know what, I think we are going to finish higher than Liverpool this season. I’m putting it out there.
“I watched the game [Liverpool 3-1 Wolves] because it was before our game and Wolves could have run away with it! They had quite a few opportunities. We’ve got them this weekend and it’s a six-pointer. We’ve got them!”
But Soucek insists Antonio, who has never scored more than 10 goals in a single Premier League campaign, will have to improve his form in front of goal first after only managing to find the back of the net five times last season in 33 league appearances. “Micky does lots of interviews that are funny and we just laugh about it!” said the 28-year-old.
“It’s great that he has this show but in terms of what he is saying, it’s something we need to follow through. If it ends up being true I will be very happy but he needs to score many goals to get us ahead of Liverpool.”
West Ham’s midfield, including Soucek, has been completely transformed this summer following the £105million sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal. The Hammers used the money from the Rice transfer to bring in three new acquisitions to the centre of the park; James Ward-Prowse (£30m), Edson Alvarez (£35.4m) and Mohammed Kudus (£38m).
Their summer business appears to be paying off with David Moyes’ men, who were fighting against relegation last season, sat in sixth place in England’s top flight after five games. “This team is a little bit different to the one it was before because of the quality of the players. It’s one of the best we’ve ever had, I just hope we now prove it,” Soucek added.
“Declan was a great player, I loved playing with him but now we have different types of players and that helps because of the different style of football that we play. We will see how it goes in the Premier League, hopefully, the results will show but I’m very happy with the squad.”
