Graham Potter has waited a long time to work with “fantastic” Tomas Soucek. The Czech midfielder celebrated five years at West Ham earlier this week. But if Potter had had his way when in charge of Brighton, the old school midfielder would have ended up on the south coast instead. The new Hammers boss had even met with Soucek in an attempt to work his magic in January 2020 only for West Ham to win the battle. It has paid off for the box-to-box star and Potter, who visits another former club in Chelsea on Monday night, is enjoying the belated opportunity to coach him.

“He gives his best every single day, he’s a dream in that regard,” Potter said. “I know him well because we tried to sign him at Brighton. “He’s been great. The five years he’s been here has been a real success for him. His strengths are he can help in both boxes, he covers the ground and plays in whatever role the team needs, he’s adaptable. He’s fantastic to work with.”. Soucek went on to cause Potter further heartache when he got away with a blatant handball late in a draw against Chelsea two years ago.

Potter’s critics then argued that his post-match assessment was too gentle on referee Craig Pawson. And in a week where the abuse of officials has again crossed the line, he has felt the need to point to the hypocrisy of that analysis. “It was a great save,” he said. “At the time I was told I should have been angrier and nastier to the referees. We’ve had a laugh about it. He gave me a knowing glance. It’s part of the game, it happens. Hopefully he can block some stuff without his hands on Monday.”.

West Ham are optimistic that captain Jarrod Bowen will be fit for the trip to Chelsea but Potter is sweating on the availability of Lucas Paqueta ahead of the head coach’s return to Stamford Bridge. Brazilian Paqueta is nursing a groin complaint that has kept him out of training, though Potter is increasingly confident that Bowen can feature a month on from fracturing a foot. “Jarrod is looking hopeful,” Potter said. "He's trained the last two days and we've still got some more training sessions to go. So we're hopeful for him.

"Lucas we're just monitoring and looking after. We're hopeful that he can train at the back end of this week as well. But obviously we will have to see. He hasn't trained so far this week.". Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.