This week could barely have gone any better for Declan Rice and West Ham United.
From the tenth minute onwards of last Sunday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal, the Hammers have scored ten goals, conceded only one, moved up to 13th in the Premier League table and progressed to the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
The positivity continued at AFC Bournemouth, as goals from Michail Antonio and Paquetá set the tone inside the first 12 minutes.
Skipper Rice got in on the act himself with a thunderous half-volley to add a third to his team’s tally before the break and leave Bournemouth beaten before the game had even reached the halfway stage.
With a spectacular Pablo Fornals volley adding the cherry to the Irons’ cake in the second half, Rice deserved to wear a broad smile at the end of a memorable 4-0 success.
“It was the ideal way to round off a great week,” Rice stated. “I said in an interview a few weeks ago that we had started to build the momentum again and build confidence – I think you saw that in midweek with four goals and then we’ve scored four more today and probably could have had more. It was an outstanding performance at both ends of the pitch.
“This was the first time we’ve scored inside 15 minutes in the Premier League this season. Of course when you go 2-0 up it’s hard not to get comfortable with such a long way to go, but I thought we saw it out really well.
“The lads who came on had a great impact, everyone knew their roles and I think you saw a team who was 100 per cent committed to still trying to push out of where they are in the table.”
Rice scored a wonderful solo goal in Thursday’s 4-1 Europa Conference League victory against KAA Gent and added to that tally with his strike before half-time at Vitality Stadium.
With four goals under his belt now for the season, the No41 is determined to experience that goalscoring feeling again before the campaign is out.
“I’m scoring again!” he beamed. “Two in a row, I think it’s the first time it’s happened back-to-back for me. Obviously there have been question marks over my goalscoring ability, but I think that’s my top [Premier League] tally now that I’ve managed to get in a season with three.
“Look, there are still a few games to go, important games, so hopefully I can keep notching because there’s no better feeling that putting the ball into the back of the net.”
The games continue to come thick and fast as the Hammers reach the business end of the season and Rice cannot wait to take to the pitch again with his team due to face Liverpool at London Stadium on Wednesday.
“There are some teams below us and we’ve given ourselves a little gap but it’s important that we don’t get too comfortable,” he added.
“We have Liverpool next and we relish those kind of nights at London Stadium. We’ll be bang up for it, the crowd will be right with us and we’ve got a momentum swing in the atmosphere now in terms of the way we’re playing and how everyone sees us.
“We’re ready for Liverpool, we’re buzzing for that and hopefully we can take this week on into next week.”
