Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice returned to the London Stadium on Saturday to take on West Ham United.
Declan Rice left West Ham to join Arsenal in the summer of 2023, for a fee believed to be worth around £105 million.
If we’re being honest with ourselves, the Hammers have failed to replace him properly since his London Stadium exit, and we’re simply not the same team in the middle of the park.
West Ham desperately miss Rice’s pace, power, athleticism and ball-carrying ability.
The signings of James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez in 2023 were poor in my opinion, as their attributes weren’t what we needed to replace Rice.
We’ve been crying out for someone like Youssouf Fofana since Rice left to join the Gunners.
Arsenal's Declan Rice holds off West Ham United's Jean-Clair Todibo and Vladimir Coufal during the Premier League match between West Ham United FC ...
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
The 25-year-old has often spoken of his love for the Hammers, and he suggested before the game at the weekend that he would never celebrate against his former club.
He lived up to those words in February earlier this year when he banged one in from 30 yards out during Arsenal’s 6-0 win over us.
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This time around the Gunners beat us 5-2 on our home turf, and that hurt.
Arsenal star Declan Rice told West Ham fans bare-faced lie
Rice and co rocked up at the London Stadium on Saturday, and were given the freedom to play the football they wanted to.
It was a poor performance from the Hammers, and on another day, we could easily have lost by a far greater margin.
Rice returned to the London Stadium, and put in a fairly average performance for him actually.
He was nowhere near his marauding best.
However, I did notice something very interesting about the 25-year-old midfielder on Saturday.
Despite the fact that he didn’t score himself, he went directly against what he said earlier this week.
Arsenal's Belgian midfielder #19 Leandro Trossard (L) celebrates with Arsenal's English midfielder #41 Declan Rice (R) after scoring their second g...
Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
Numerous Hammers fans called into talkSPORT to bemoan the fact that Rice celebrated every single Arsenal goal that went in.
So he told a bare-faced lie to the West Ham supporters, but is it really a problem what he did? I don’t think so.
Declan Rice is the enemy, and that’s fine
At the end of the day, his allegiances are with Arsenal now, and if I were a Gunners fan, I would be angry if he didn’t celebrate goals against his former club.
Arsenal pay Declan Rice’s wages, and whilst he will always have a fond place in his heart for West Ham, we will be nothing more than a distant memory for him now.
And that’s fine.
We need to move on as well by signing a proper replacement for him.
Declan Rice was a great player for West Ham, but he left us to join Arsenal, so he is the enemy now – nothing more, nothing less.
It’s time that everyone moved on I think. We should boo him when he returns to our ground and he should celebrate if and when he or his teammates score against us.
Football is a tribal game, and that’s the way things should be as far as I’m concerned.
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