Declan Rice ‘buzzing’ with behind-the-scenes reveal at West Ham United
After helping England to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, Declan Rice has been pictured back in West Ham training.
Rice was a pivotal part of Gareth Southgate’s team in Qatar, with the 23-year-old starting every game for the Three Lions. Despite his high workload in the tournament though, Rice has returned to West Ham training just 11 days after the loss to France.
The Hammers are preparing for a tough trip to league-leading Arsenal on their Premier League return on Boxing Day, and Rice’s latest tweet suggests he might be involved in the matchday squad.
After the official West Ham page posted “Look who’s back!”, Rice replied: “Buzzing to be back! Can’t wait for Boxing Day”.
The Hammers are scheduled to kick-off against Arsenal at 8pm on Boxing Day.
Right back to it
With the winter break now coming to an end, West Ham need to set full focus on the Premier League. The Hammers sit down in 16th after a miserable start to the season and change is needed quickly to avoid being dragged into a relegation fight.
It’s been a bizarre season for the Irons, with the European campaign going exactly as planned. David Moyes led the team to a perfect group stage record in the Europa Conference League, but things just haven’t clicked domestically.
Moyes recently insisted that West Ham are not in a relegation fight and are instead in a battle for European qualification [talkSPORT]. His ambition is admirable, but the reality is that the club are just one point off the drop zone.
A poor restart to the season could easily see the Hammers drop into the bottom three, and then the pressure on players, coaches and the manager would intensify.
Perhaps Moyes is trying to shrug off relegation in order to have his players focus on looking up rather than down, but fans and players are already aware of the situation at hand.
A win against Arsenal on Boxing Day would be a fantastic way for Moyes to relieve some pressure, but a loss would mark a fourth successive league defeat.