West Ham will be keen to figure out where their goals are going to come from after it was confirmed that Michail Antonio is injured.
Michail Antonio’s injury has come as a major blow to West Ham manager David Moyes. The Scot has built a fluid attacking system with the Englishman as the spearhead of the attack. Now the manager must decide who is going to be the clubs main attacking threat.
The obvious choice would be Sebastien Haller. The £45 million striker has been stuck on the bench due to the good form of Antonio. Moyes, however, could choose a different player to be his main man during Antonio’s stint on the sidelines.
Since joining in January Tomas Soucek has become a firm fan favourite with the West Ham faithful. The Czech player of the year has settled into the team perfectly and has formed a terrific defensive partnership with Declan Rice.
Soucek to does offer a lot going forward as well and has even been compared to Marouane Fellaini. Moyes signed Fellaini for Everton and turned him into a combative midfielder who was able to chip in with plenty of goals.
"‘He has found in Soucek his new Fellaini.’Jose Mourinho on Soucek."
The 25-year-old has averaged 2.5 shots per ninety-minutes this season from his midfield role, in which he is allowed to burst forward with the attack. By comparison, Antonio averages 3.31 shots per ninety minutes, which is not too much more considering he is the striker.
In terms of ‘expected goals’ Soucek is not too far behind Antonio in that department either, The Czech’s XG is 0.28 whereas Antonio’s XG is only at 0.54. Despite not scoring a goal this season. The Czech was unlucky to have an effort against Wolves be deemed as a Raul Jimenez own-goal.
The loss of Antonio is gutting for the Hammers. But if Soucek is given more license to get forward, he could start to get himself amongst the goals and fill the void left by Antonio.