West Ham fans have had to suffer relentless goading from some of their Arsenal counterparts in recent times but now they’ve had a taste of their own medicine.
Arsenal have revelled in taking away West Ham’s homegrown captain Declan Rice.
Gunners fans turned up at West Ham holding aloft Arsenal shirts emblazoned with Rice’s name to rub salt in the wound.
They’ve told Hammers fans ‘Rice left because you’re s—‘ and even had the audacity to claim Arsenal have made the midfielder world class.
Arsenal fans have also mockingly sang “10 more years, 10 more years Declan Rice” in a clear dig at West Ham supporters, who sung the same song to try and persuade the midfielder to stay before he joined Mikel Arteta’s side.
That’s despite many Gunners fans saying Rice was overpriced when they paid £105m to sign him from West Ham in the summer of 2023.
Sweet revenge as West Ham fans taunt Arsenal
Rice left the Hammers after leading them to their first major trophy for 43 years.
He angered many West Ham fans by choosing Arsenal over Man City when declaring he wants to win the top trophies in the game.
West Ham had to suffer the ignominy of two big hidings – 6-0 and 5-2 – at home against Arsenal.
But West Ham have now stopped their former captain winning three since the switch.
The Hammers knocked Arsenal out of the League Cup last season.
They then beat their London rivals 2-0 at the Emirates to derail their title push at the end of December 2023.
Now on their first return to the Emirates since that 2-0 win, West Ham have done it again, all but officially ending Arsenal’s pursuit of the Premier League title.
And it was sweet revenge as West Ham fans taunt Arsenal with three ruthless chants.
West Ham’s following packed out the away end as always and put the quiet hosts to shame.
Hammers hit Gunners and Rice with three ruthless chants
In fairness this was a game the Gunners had to win and you could sense the nervousness in the home crowd and the team.
There were three chants which West Ham fans sung on repeat all game long.
And with extra gusto as Graham Potter’s side finally gave their fans something to shout about.
Rice was the target of one of them.
Almost every time Rice touched the ball he was jeered and serenaded with the chant “You should have signed for a big club”.
The irony is not lost on West Ham fans that Rice’s last major trophy remains that Europa Conference League triumph with the Hammers after declaring he was leaving to compete for the top honours in football.
West Ham condemn Arsenal to second again ole ole
After European hero Jarrod Bowen gave the Hammers a deserved 1-0 lead, West Ham fans chanted “Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that” on repeat.
It should be noted West Ham have won three European trophies in their history to Arsenal’s two.
The pièce de résistance, though, was the clever use of use of a Man City chant which cut Arsenal deep.
“Second again ole, ole, second again ole, ole, second again, second again, second again ole, ole”.
That one was sung with a bit more oomph in Rice’s direction too.
The midfielder was subbed off after just 56 minutes of another very poor performance against the Hammers on a personal level.
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