Steven Gerrard: West Ham midfielder Declan Rice was superb v Aston Villa
Steven Gerrard says West Ham midfielder Declan Rice was “superb” against Aston Villa.
The England midfield was outstanding once again as the Hammers won 2-1 and kept their top-four hopes alive.
Goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Pablo Fornals sealed all three points for the home side. Jacob Ramsey pulled one back for the visitors.
The Villa boss said, as relayed by The Atheltic journalist, Roshane Thomas on Twitter: “I was impressed by West Ham. Declan Rice was superb today.”
Strong performance
It was yet another solid performance from the 23-year-old midfielder.
Rice has been unreal throughout the season, and he has set high standards for himself.
In the first half, the Hammers found it really hard to open up the Villa defence and Rice was kept quiet by the visitors.
After the break, Rice started to expand his game and played out some gorgeous passes. He still made one tackle, two interceptions and three clearances, as per Who Scored.
In the second half, Rice made his signature run from deep only once and it opened up the Villa defence completely.
He got past John McGinn and ran a distance before spreading the ball on the left to Said Benrahma. The Algerian picked up rushing Pablo Fornals in the box with a fine pass, and the Spaniard made it 2-0.
It was a great team goal with Rice playing the part. Apart from that, he was quick to react to loose balls, and it doesn’t come as a surprise that Gerrard, one of England’s finest ever midfielders, has liked his midfield dominance.
In other West Ham news, this 29-year-old from the EFL is another central defender that Moyes is reportedly interested in signing ahead of next season.
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