SUPERB RICE EXPOSES FRAILTIES UNDER UNAI
WEST HAM .......... 1 ARSENAL ............. 0
DECLAN RICE scored his first goal for West Ham as Manuel Pellegrini’s men re-exposed Arsenal’s soft underbelly to remind fans of past failings. The Hammers midfielder was presented with a glorious opportunity early in the second half when Granit Xhaka’s poor headed clearance fell to him in the area.
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.
Emery said: “The result is bad. We lost a good opportunity to take three points and get closer to Chelsea and the other teams.
“Looking at the chances, from them and us, maybe the result is not the result we deserved but in the game plan, the control, we need to improve.”
Emery left out the fit-again Mesut Ozil and his side dominated possession early on.
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 Samir 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.
If they do lose Marko Arnautovic, who is the subject of interest from China, then Rice and Anderson will be the players on whom all hopes are pinned.
Pellegrini added: “I am sure Declan will be a top player. He improving in every game.
“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. Maybe in this position he can score more goals but the second step for him to continue improving is to try to have a good view of all the pitch.” NINE-MAN saw their lead at the top trimmed to three points after they blew a two-goal lead in a dramatic 2-2 draw at
The Imps had Bruno Andrade sent off in the 34th minute following an off-the-ball incident but still cruised in front through Jason Shackell and a brilliant long-range strike from Shay McCartan.
Michael Doughty reduced the deficit from the penalty spot before Shackell was shown a second yellow for dissent, and the visitors’ resistance finally crumbled two minutes from time when Doughty grabbed his second from outside the box.
Bury Lincoln Swindon. MK Dons
leapfrogged into second place after storming back from a 3-1 deficit to overcome their promotion rivals in a seven-goal thriller at Gigg Lane.
Managerless saw their hopes of keeping pace with the top three shattered by a surprise 3-0 defeat at struggling
Carlisle Northampton.