West Ham United may be heading to Old Trafford to face the Premier League's second-placed team Manchester United on Sunday, but for Tomáš Souček the status of the opposition won't change West Ham United's mindset.
The Hammers have built confidence and momentum over the course of the 2020/21 campaign to climb up into fifth place themselves, on the coattails of the Red Devils.
Victory in the North West would bring Souček's side to within three points of Ole Gunnar Solskjær's men and the Czech midfielder says his team possess the belief to give themselves a shot of making that happen.
"We are preparing to beat a team like Manchester United," he said. "When I came here it was a little bit different, but now the mentality at the club, the spirit, is really good and we’re going into each game with the win in our heads, so that’s great.
"We don’t want to lose a pass, or any game, and we all want to transfer that to the guys. The guys know it because the table shows us when we have a good mentality, we can get good results.
"We are all really happy with how the season is going so far and we’re really enjoying our time."
West Ham's excellent run continued on Monday night with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Leeds United, with goals from Jesse Lingard and Craig Dawson seeing them past Marcelo Bielsa's team, and Souček felt it was a good way to warm up for today's test.
"It was a really tough game for us because everyone knows how Leeds play - they make it a tough game because they run everywhere," he continued.
"That made it really tough but I think that if we don’t count the first ten to 15 minutes, we played well and got a good result.
"I remember our FA Cup game at Manchester United game, we played really well and got the draw over 90 minutes, and if we play similarly this time I think we can do more than we did in the cup."
Souček continues to impress with every single appearance in the Hammers midfield, and with eight goals to his name this season, he credits David Moyes for helping him to adjust quickly to the Premier League and strike up an excellent partnership with Declan Rice.
"I’m very happy that I came to David Moyes because he has been helpful from the start," he explained. "He speaks to the guys like a friend when we get a coffee, and he gives us belief and trust in ourselves.
"It’s really good that I came here to David Moyes and he invited me into this great club.
"Declan and myself both are more like No6s, but it’s about the balance between us. It’s the best for us that we are both box-to-box midfielders, and when one of us goes to attack, the other covers the pitch.
"We are both similar, like No6 or No8 together, but we’ve found our way of how we can help the team. It’s great to play next to him."
