A special celebration followed Tomáš Souček's early second-half opener against Wolverhampton Wanderers at London Stadium in the Premier League.
Having expertly headed home Jarrod Bowen's on 54 minutes, the Czech Republic international was followed over to the Sky Sports TV cameras at the side of the pitch by his team-mates who, in unison, all formed a number nine with their hands.
It was for Hammers striker Michail Antonio, who is recovering in hospital from surgery on a lower limb fracture suffered in a road traffic accident on Saturday.
Souček has now hit the back of the net 36 times in all competitions for the Irons, but Monday’s effort was one of his most meaningful goals as he dedicated the header and 2-1 win secured by Jarrod Bowen's 72nd-minute striker to his long-time teammate and friend.
“Today I had that extra bit of motivation because I wanted to score for him [Antonio], and it happened,” Souček beamed. “I want to dedicate this goal to him, and I’m glad I could at least do something, but I just want to see him and get him back, as he’s one of the most important guys in West Ham’s history.
“I really miss him because he has been so supportive to me and has been my best friend since I arrived at the Club, and I’ve almost played every minute with him, and now I realise I won’t play with him for a while. I’m so happy he had a smile on his face, and I look forward to visiting him, and I’m sure he will come to the training ground and be with us because he’s one of us. He always puts everything in on the pitch, and I really love him.”
Over the last few weeks, Souček admits he and his West Ham team-mates have felt the pressure to start picking up results, but he says the art of coping with pressure is to use it as motivation – and that’s exactly what they did after revealing the squad had a video call with Antonio, who is recovering in a central London hospital, prior to kick-off.
“We spoke with him around 30 minutes or an hour before the game, and we were all so happy to see him, and it gave us all a smile on our faces and made some jokes,” said Souček.
“Every win is so important, but this one is even more important because we’ve felt a lot of pressure from almost everywhere - the fans, the media, and although we’ve tried to get rid of it, we’ve still felt it. We tried to give our maximum effort, intensity, and desire, and we did great and managed to win after a great performance at home. I think this will help us a lot, and we need to build on this performance.
“We could’ve been winning 2-0, but [Mohammed] Kudus was offside, and then they equalised, which was tough for us, but we showed the spirit we have, and Jarrod’s goal was great and helped us to win this game.
“We played well last week [at Leicester City, but lost 3-1], but the most important thing is the points, and we can take the positives from the last two performances. We had a few mistakes in the last game, but today I thought we were quite solid at the back. We’ve now got a week to build on this performance and get ready for another tough game against [AFC] Bournemouth. We can’t over-celebrate as it’s only one victory, but hopefully we can start moving up the table.”
