WHZ View: Declan Rice shines again as West Ham defeat Leeds
Declan Rice turned in another stellar performance as West Ham secured a 2-1 win against Leeds United on Friday night.
The Hammers went behind early in the first half after Mateusz Klich scored a penalty at the second attempt before goals from Tomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna gave the Irons a deserved win.
Once again, Rice won’t steal the headlines with his performance but he is quietly going about his business and becoming one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.
Rice was a colossus against Leeds and very little got past the 21-year-old in the Hammers midfield.
According to Wyscout, Rice won 100% of his defensive duels which is a testament to the near-perfect defensive display the West Ham man delivered at Elland Road.
The England international also won 100% of his loose ball duels as he cleaned up in the midfield and stopped possession falling to Leeds.
He also rather impressively won 75% of his aerial duels which shows that Rice possesses strength in the air as well as technical ability.
Against Leeds, Rice made five interceptions which is a testament to how well he reads the game and how well he can anticipate passes from the opposition.
To add to this, Rice didn’t give away a single foul all night which again highlights how strong he is in the tackle.
He was also great at driving the Hammers forward as, against Leeds, Rice made four progressive runs which is much higher than the 1.01 progressive runs he has been averaging per game this season.
Once again it was a complete performance from Rice that showed both his attacking and defensive quality.
Rice also registered an 88% passing accuracy which shows how strong his passing was with the 21-year-old only misplacing three passes all evening.
Overall, 72% of Rice’s actions were successful against Leeds and this is only just below his average successful action rate this season which is 72.9%.
Rice is quickly becoming the Hammers’ most important and arguably best player and it is imperative he isn’t sold in January so he can continue to contribute to West Ham’s incredible form this season.
In other West Ham news, a new report has detailed an update on Arthur Masuaku’s injury.