‘What a waste of money’ sang the fans as Declan Rice was poor in West Ham’s 2-0 win over Arsenal in the Premier League.
West Ham made it 32 wins as they brought the curtain down on 2023 in style by beating Arsenal for the second time in as many months at the Emirates.
A heroic counter-attacking performance saw goals from Tomas Soucek – freed from the shackles of Declan Rice – and ex Gunners defender Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Rice lost Jarrod Bowen and allowed him to cut the ball back for West Ham’s first.
West Ham’s first win at Arsenal since 2015 could have been even sweeter had Said Benrahma not seen a last gasp penalty saved.
‘What a waste of money’ Rice is poor
The magnitude of West Ham’s performance and result is put into context by the fact this was Arsenal’s first home defeat of the season.
The focus was on former Hammers captain Rice who pushed to leave the club for Arsenal in the summer.
He was on the losing team as a second half sub at the London Stadium last month.
And he tasted defeat against his old side again, putting in his worst performance yet for the Gunners in the process.
‘What a waste of money’ sang the away fans as Rice put in a laboured display in West Ham’s win over Arsenal.
West Ham take advantage of ex skipper’s worst performance
Playing deeper than he ever did for West Ham, Rice was terrible throughout. Offering little other than sideways passes.
And he gave the ball away on countless occasions – three times directly to a West Ham player to set the Hammers away on their notoriously dangerous counter attacks.
West Ham fans jeered Rice throughout, chanting ‘what a waste of money’ and ‘you should have signed for a big club’.
Whether it affected his performance or not only he will know. But his misery was complete late on when he brought down Emerson in the box to gift West Ham a penalty.
Benrahma’s effort was saved but it mattered little as it was the last kick of the game.
A brilliant performance for West Ham in a memorable year. It puts the Hammers back in the top six.
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