JUST ADD RICE
Recipe to beat Gunners?
DECLAN RICE scored his first goal for West Ham as Manuel Pellegrini’s men exploited Arsenal’s soft underbelly.
The Hammers midfielder was presented with a glorious opportunity early in the second half when Granit Xhaka’s poor headed clearance fell to Samir Nasri, who laid it off to Rice.
A player of his immense talent was never going to miss and he duly tucked the ball home to delight the majority inside the London Stadium.
This was the sort of defeat for which ex-gunners boss Arsene Wenger would have been given pelters.
Unai Emery’s men ran around a lot and there were one or two enjoyable passages of play.
But, ultimately, there was no killer instinct and Hammers keeper Lukasz Fabianski was only called into action a couple of times without ever looking troubled.
Emery said: “The result is bad. We lost a good opportunity to take three points and get closer to Chelsea and the other teams.
“We wanted to play a better match.
“Looking at the chances, from them and us, maybe the result is not what we deserved, but, in the game plan, the control, we need to improve.”
Emery left out the fit-again Mesut Ozil.
The Gunners boss added: “He worked normally this week. We have won with him and lost with him, and today we have the players we thought could win this match.”
Emery’s side dominated possession early on, but their hosts were back on a level footing by half-time.
Alex Lacazette went closest for Arsenal when he burst away from Angelo Ogbonna, dashed between Pablo Zabaleta and Aaron Cresswell and forced a save from Fabianski before firing the rebound over.
Rice then snuffed out a delightful move involving Alex Iwobi and Sead Kolasinac, with Lacazette about to pull the trigger. Slowly, West Ham got into the game and, when Nasri teed up the gifted Felipe Anderson, his effort wasn’t too far wide.
Rice was then frustrated with himself as he headed wide from Anderson’s corner.
But his frustrations did not last long and, within three minutes of the restart, the 19-year-old pounced to give West Ham the lead.
He and Anderson are two very different players, but both are a joy to watch.
Certainly, they are well liked by the Hammers faithful and, if they do lose Marko Arnautovic, who is the subject of interest from China, then those two will be the players on whom all hopes are pinned.
Arnautovic was furious with Pellegrini (below) last week when he was taken off and, while he did not remonstrate this time, yet again he didn’t look best pleased. The reaction to his name being read out when he was replaced by Andy Carroll was a mixture of cheers and jeers. Asked about Arnautovic’s future, Pellegrini said: “We will see what happens in the next few days and I hope he will take the best decision.
“I have been in this position a lot of time in my 30 years, but I am calm, even though nothing is 100 per cent sure.” Ultimately, the day belonged to Rice Pellegrini added: “I am sure Declan will be a top player.
“He is improving in every game, he is now more used to giving us a good build-up in front and not so many passes backwards.
“He is very strong in aerial duals, he is strong one-versus-one, has a good technique, he demonstrated that in the goal he scored.
“I’m sure we are seeing a top player soon, not only for West Ham, but also for the national squad he decides to play for.
“Maybe in this position he can score more goals, but the second step is to try to have a good view of all the pitch.
“That’s where we’re working with him in every way.”
I’m sure Declan will be a top player. He is improving in every game