Medical expert: Soucek undergoing ‘rigorous testing’ after ‘very difficult’ West Ham news
Tomas Soucek will go through “rigorous testing” before he is passed fit to play by West Ham following his bout of Covid.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Soucek, a fan favourite at the London Stadium, missed the Hammers’ last two matches after contracting the virus but returned to training this week.
But David Moyes told football.london on Tuesday (18 January) that it is “very difficult to make a judgement” on Soucek’s availability at this point.
The 26-year-old Czech midfield enforcer is one of five West Ham stars who are doubts for the clash against Man United tomorrow (22 January).
Dinnery explained the boxes Soucek must tick if he is to be in contention.
“The assumption is he passes all the protocols, negative lateral flows and so on,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“Players these days are continuously measured and their outputs are recorded.
“They will have good baseline metrics for everyone in the squad. That’s things like high-intensity sprints, distance covered, heart rate monitoring.
“They will ensure that he is maintaining those baseline metrics through rigorous testing. If he is, then he will be given the all-clear to play.“
Soucek had played all but 11 minutes of the Hammers’ Premier League campaign until coming down with Covid.
He has registered three goals and one assist in 28 outings across all competitions this term.
In other news, Gabby Agbonlahor slaughters “shocking” Aaron Cresswell and “dreadful” West Ham teammate.