West Ham fans go wild for Declan Rice as Arsenal star gives old club amazing gift in first league game against them
WEST HAM fans went crazy after Declan Rice gave away a penalty at the end of the Hammers’ 2-0 win over Arsenal.
Rice, 24, left David Moyes’ side to join the Gunners for £105million in the summer.
ReutersDeclan Rice gave away a penalty after bringing down Emerson Palmieri[/caption]
It capped a disappointing evening for Arsenal as they were beaten 2-0 by West HamReuters
Twitter / West Ham fans went wild when Rice gave away the penalty[/caption]
And he has made a positive start to life at the Emirates, establishing himself as one of Mikel Arteta‘s most crucial players.
But it was an evening to forget for both Arsenal and the England midfielder on Thursday.
Goals from Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos saw West Ham claim a famous victory in North London.
And it could have been 3-0 in stoppage time after a nightmare moment for Rice.
The Arsenal star’s poor touch led him to overstretch and bring down Emerson Palmieri.
Referee Michael Oliver pointed straight to the spot as the travelling West Ham fans went wild.
It was an awful moment for Rice – who gave a pained smile following his mistake.
But David Raya somewhat spared his blushes as he saved Said Benrahma’s penalty to keep the score at 2-0.
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Meanwhile, SunSport has revealed West Ham manager Moyes is set to sign a new two-and-a-half-year deal following their win over Arsenal.
The victory takes the Hammers into sixth place in the Premier League table, just four points off the top four.
They are also into the last 16 of the Europa League having topped their group with five wins from six games.
Asked about a new contract after their Emirates triumph, Moyes, whose existing deal expires at the end of the season, said: “There’s plenty of time to talk about that. We’re not in any great rush. We can get that done when we’re ready. I’m enjoying my time.
“When we came back here, we came back to make sure West Ham didn’t get relegated.
“That was four years ago now. Since then, we’ve grown and I think the team are growing and getting better.
“We won’t be challenging all the top teams all the time because we’re not dining at that table but we’re coming now and again to these teams and giving them a game.”
He then went on to add: “I’m really happy with the environment I’m working in here.
“I’ve got a great team of players we have built over the four years and had some success and we’ll see if we can keep it going.
“I’m sure the contract will be sorted in due course. We’ll find how things go.”
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