By Daniel Feliciano

7th Mar, 2022 | 9:45am

Declan Rice expected to be fit for West Ham v Sevilla - report

Declan Rice is expected to recover from his illness and be fit for West Ham when they take on Sevilla in the Europa League this week, according to Football London.

The influential midfielder was a shock absentee from the squad against Liverpool at the weekend, missing the game due to illness and failing a late fitness test to play.

The Hammers fell to a 1-0 defeat despite a good performance and the attentions now turn to Sevilla in the last 16, but they will be boosted by news that Rice is expected to be fit to play in that game.

A report by Football.London states that Rice’s illness is not covid related and that with a few days of rest, he is ‘expected to be fine’ for the European clash.

The first leg will take place at the Ramon Sanchez Pijuan Stadium in Spain, before a return leg the following week at the London Stadium for a place in the quarter-finals.

Boost

Rice is a massively influential player for the Hammers, but the performance at Anfield without him would’ve been very encouraging for all involved.

Considering how much they usually rely on him in the middle of the pitch, they coped very well without him and were unlucky not to get anything from the game in the end.

But the return of their 23-year-old skipper will be seen as a huge boost ahead of the game against the side challenging for the La Liga title this season.

His ability to carry the ball from box-to-box but also break up play in front of his defence will be essential against a technically secure outfit who have got just as much if not more individual quality than them.

Without Rice there is a bit of a lack of balance in the side, especially with Mark Noble also injured and Alex Kral completely out of favour under David Moyes, so the boss will be delighted to have his star man back.

In other West Ham news, View: West Ham could make mistake after Karren Brady comments on ‘incredible’ ace