Tomáš Souček says he and his teammates want to give West Ham United UEFA Europa Conference League winners Aaron Cresswell, Vladimír Coufal, Łukasz Fabiański and Danny Ings the perfect send-off by winning their final home match of the season this weekend against Nottingham Forest.
The Hammers are looking to finish on a high note, having gained some momentum by beating Manchester United 2-0 away from home last time out, and with two games left in total will be eyeing maximum points to climb two places from their current position of 15th.
Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, have enjoyed remarkable success this season having already secured a spot in Europe for next term, and they are still in the mix for Champions League qualification with just one point separating them and Chelsea in fifth.
Nuno Espírito Santo's team have won just one of their previous six Premier League games, but are sure to arrive in east London with all guns blazing, and Souček says victory against the Tricky Trees would be a fitting finale for some of our greatest servants in modern West Ham history.
“We said after the game [at Old Trafford] that we made some standards, and we just want to carry on this momentum because our fans deserved that win so much,” said Souček.
“They support us; they are amazing, probably the best in the league, so I'm so happy for them, but we need to have this connection always, and we want to bring them three points [against Nottingham Forest]. There’s a good chance to continue our momentum from Old Trafford and bring it to a home game and finish the season at home with a win. We want to get cheered off the pitch after the game because we know that after the game we have to say goodbye to our fans and thank them for their support this season, so if it's with a win, it's always a memory we can bring for the break.
“I am very close to all four of these players because they have been here for so many years, and we won the Europa Conference League together, so they will be missed a lot here. I'm not scared to say that they are big West Ham legends, and I hope that all the stadium will come together and appreciate the work they did here for many years.
“I think they will be remembered in the best possible way because all of them were a big part of the trophy and were part of something special we achieved here, so they will be remembered like legends of the Club. If you go somewhere and ask someone about these four players, I think everyone will say they are the heart of the team.
“We’ve already seen some tears because there’s not one person who doesn't like these players, and they are really honest people, so it will be sad, but obviously it's football, and for these players I hope we give them a fitting send-off that they deserve on Sunday.”
Souček, who welcomed his third child to the world alongside wife Natálie in the days before the Hammers' trip to Old Trafford, capped off a ‘perfect week’ by scoring the opening goal against the Red Devils, which saw him hit his personal target of nine goals for the season.
The 30-year-old says the Hammers are wary of the threats posed by a Forest side who are chasing a seat at Europe's top table and defeated them 3-0 in the reverse fixture in November, but insists he and his teammates still have a few goals to achieve before the end of the season.
He added: “For me, it (last week) was a special week. The first part of my week saw the birth of my son, Daniel, and then I scored the goal for him. It was such a nice feeling.
“But for the whole team, it was very important because it was a tough time to not win during that period of games. Football is about three points all the time, and we are so happy that we won at Old Trafford.
“I said to myself that I already did a celebration for my two daughters, so I needed to do one for Daniel as well. I'm just happy and proud, and in a few years, I will show him the celebration and that I wrote his name on my boots too.
“Nine goals this season was my aim. I always say I want to score nine goals because it's a goal on average every fourth game, so I’m happy that I've done it from this personal perspective. I know that once I scored ten (in 2020/21), but there are two games left, and hopefully I can manage to go even higher.
“It’s been a great season for Nottingham Forest, and they got so many points, so we’ve got a lot of respect for them. But we know that the last few games they haven’t won, so we know that we have a good opportunity to win the game. We know that for them it's a massive game, that they can go to the Champions League, but it’s also a big game for us as we still have goals to be better than the teams behind us, so we have a big goal in front of us, and we want to reach it.”
