Versatile forward Sean Adarkwa is looking forward to the prospect of a first full season at Under-23s level, starting with a trip to Chelsea on Monday afternoon.
The 2019/20 season was a frustrating one for the 19-year-old, who still managed to recover from long-term injury to score three goals in four Premier League 2 Division 2 games just before the season was terminated.
Fresh from a productive pre-season, the pacey and powerful Adarkwa – who has already played in a variety of roles within an attacking trio in pre-season – is hoping to make up for lost time when the young Hammers get stuck into Division 1 this season.
That campaign begins in earnest with a mouth-watering tie on the first day of the U23s’ league season, pitting the Irons – last season’s unbeaten Premier League 2 Division 2 champions – against the Blues, last season’s unbeaten Division 1 champions.
The London derby will therefore be a huge test of the progress of the Hammers’ development squad to this point, but Adarkwa believes it is one he and his teammates will embrace as they look to get off to the best possible start at Kingsmeadow.
“I’m very excited to, God willing, start to play a full season at Under-23s level,” he told whufc.com.
“Last season was disrupted by injuries and COVID-19, but now I’m just looking forward. I’m looking forward to hopefully playing well, enjoying good chances and making a name for myself.
“We’ve done really well in pre-season, and last season we won the league and were unbeaten, so I’m expecting some really good tests in Premier League 2 Division 1 this season.
“I’m looking forward to the Chelsea game. I think it’ll be a really good test, a very exciting game and I’m looking forward to hopefully playing my part in it.”
The young Hammers go into their first league game of the season off the back of a highly impressive 3-1 win at Southend United in the EFL Trophy, their first competitive game in just over six months following last season’s early curtailment.
There wasn’t any information left out and we knew what we had to do. We knew with the great players we had on the pitch, we could produce that win
Sean Adarkwa
If the confident performance was impressive overall, the standard of finishing on display at Roots Hall was even more so, and Adarkwa believes this was down to the standard of preparation on the training pitch.
He explained: “In the Southend game, we were so confident because we knew what we had to do. [Lead coach] Dimitri [Halakjo] and [assistant] Steve Potts had told us everything we had to do to win the game.
“We had clips from their previous games. There wasn’t any information left out and we knew what we had to do. We knew with the great players we had on the pitch, we could produce that win.
“As for the goals, the shooting drills in training have been very good. From the start of pre-season training until now, the standard has been very high, with each one of us pushing each other, so it’s been very good overall!”
Fresh off the back of last season’s success, Adarkwa has encouraged his teammates to set their stall out early on Monday and aim for the highest targets possible.
“I think we all feel confident we can win in every game,” he smiled. “That’s what I think we should always aim to do.
“We have a very good bunch of players who are all eager to play well and do well for each other, so we always feel confident and ready for every game.”
West Ham United Under-23s take on Chelsea Under-23s on Monday 14 September in a behind-closed-doors fixture at Kingsmeadow. Kick-off is at 1pm; you can follow all the action with our live blog on whufc.com from mid-day.
Please note that all Academy fixtures will be played behind closed doors until further notice. Only key personnel will be admitted on site and matches will be played without supporters present, in line with safety guidelines and social distancing measures still in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
