While Crysencio Summerville, Mateus Fernandes, Jarrod Bowen and Taty Castellanos have dominated most of the headlines, Tomas Soucek is the unsung hero of West Ham United’s resurgence.
The Czech veteran has not missed a single Premier League minute since the deepest defeat to Wolves a month ago.
Soucek has unseated both Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa in the process. No matter how much things change, no matter how much the Hammers spend, no matter who is in the dugout, they always eventually come back to Tomas Soucek.
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The long-standing giants are expected to start again when West Ham United host Manchester United at the London Stadium this evening.
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Tomas Soucek says Nuno wants him to be a ‘leader’ of West Ham United
Speaking to the club’s official website as the 8.15pm kick-off approaches, Soucek reveals the roles Nuno Espirito Santo asked of him and the impact those new signings had.
“[Nuno] He wants me to be a leader in the midfield,” says the 30-year-old, whose vast experience and immense work rate give Mateus Fernandes the freedom to move forward.
“He wants me to be the connection with the players. I’m in the middle of all the parts and I just want to be compact, united and prepared for an offensive or defensive style of play.”
A massive presence at both ends of the pitch, in every sense of the word, Soucek has an important role to play against Michael Carrick’s Red Devils. No team has scored more goals from set pieces than Manchester United in 2025/26. His aerial presence, then, will be key in both boxes.
Pablo Felipe is expected to be unavailable due to a knock he suffered during Saturday’s 2-0 win at Burnley. Nuno could push Soucek into a second striker role that causes chaos, introducing Potts or Magassa in the process.
Meanwhile, the former Slavia Prague captain cannot speak highly enough of these new signings.
Nuno says the new signings have been a “huge” improvement
Nuno praised Axel Disasi (the Chelsea loanee stepped in effortlessly in his first top-flight start since April 2025), while Taty Castellanos opened his Premier League account with a header following a fabulous cross from El Hadji Malick Diouf.
Who would YOU start with if Pablo got injured? 🤕
Callum Wilson again? Fernandes at 10? A debut for Keiber Lamadrid?
“It is my position here, whoever comes [in]so they feel comfortable coming to me, or I can go to them to help them,” Soucek adds. “Since we have a couple of players who don’t speak English and come from a different part of the world.
“I would say that we are very positive. We had some changes. Some players left, some arrived, but now we know that this is the team until the end of the season. This is the group we are in and we want to fight for every point.
“I am very happy because until [training] The sessions have improved tremendously. It’s very competitive and I’m happy about that because a lot of good guys have arrived and that’s what we needed.
“We all believe we can do it. We can manage it and I would be very proud of that.”
Nuno Espirito Santo did not want to reveal the identity of those injury doubts in his pre-match press conference.
However, things are looking positive around Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville. The two wing wizards featured heavily in West Ham’s pre-match graphics on their official social media channels amid rumors the in-form duo suffered knocks in Lancashire.
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