West Ham defender Vladimir Coufal has been given a unique incentive to help Arsenal win the Premier League title by beating Manchester City on Sunday.
If Coufal and West Ham can avoid defeat at City, Arsenal will win the Premier League title should they beat Everton at the Emirates Stadium. Interestingly, should that happen, the 31-year-old defender will never have to buy coffee again!
“I have been offered free coffee for the rest of my life!” Coufal told Sky Sports. He added: “I have many Arsenal fans around me. My son is playing football, so I have big Arsenal fans there.
“I received some messages from them like, ‘Your first goal in the Premier League is coming! ‘ and stuff like that. It would be really nice, but we will see.”
Coufal and West Ham also have the chance to help a former teammate out, with Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice desperate for a favour from his old club whom he left last summer. “I think he [Rice] was in touch with the English boys, but he didn’t text me! ” Coufal joked.
“He’s an Arsenal player, so he cares about Arsenal and about their performance. I haven’t been in touch with anyone at Arsenal, so they have their own fight and we have ours.”
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In theory, West Ham have nothing to play for on the final day of the season after their ninth-placed finish was confirmed on Wednesday night. Coufal is relishing the chance to play a pivotal role in the Premier League title race, though, hoping to halt Manchester City’s quest for an unprecedented fourth consecutive league crown.
“I’m really excited, to be honest,” he said. “I can’t wait to see the Premier League trophy for the first time so I’m really excited, and hopefully it’s going to be a very good game.
“It’s nothing better than to have an option to decide the Premier League title. We are not considering the title, but we can decide it, so that’s good.
“It would be a great story that West Ham can cancel the Manchester City hegemony. They can be the first team to win it four times in a row, so it would be nice to stop it.”
West Ham do not have the best record against City, however, with Pep Guardiola’s side unbeaten in their last 16 games against the Hammers. Still, Coufal believes West Ham are capable of coming away with all three points.
“It’s probably one of the toughest places to play football,” he said. “I know we don’t have a good record there – I would say a very bad record! But this streak has to finish sometimes, and why not on Sunday?”
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are set to lock horns in a huge clash this month with each fighter attempting to etch their names in boxing history as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999. The stakes couldn’t be higher as the pair will go head to head for the prestigious WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF titles.