Football News

‘Jorginho and co were nullified’ – Rice salutes typical West Ham win over Chelsea

By Ben Green

Published: 19:44, 1 December 2019

Declan Rice has lauded West Ham’s “typical” performance in their 1-0 Premier League win over Chelsea on Saturday.

The England international played a star role as the Hammers ended an eight-game winless run at Stamford Bridge.

Why was West Ham’s win over Chelsea “typical”? Five things to know…

  • Prior to the Chelsea clash, West Ham had not won a single game in eight matches.
  • Manuel Pellegrini’s job has come under serious scrutiny these during that time.
  • However, the Hammers rallied to produce a valiant 1-0 win over Chelsea.
  • Aaron Cresswell scored the only goal of the game at Stamford Bridge, which came just after half-time.
  • Declan Rice has since described the result as “typical” West Ham.

Three points has pushed the east London club up to 13th in the Premier League table and four points away from the relegation zone.

The win comes off the back of West Ham conceding nine goals in just three games, which is why Rice believes the performance was so “typical” of a club often looked at as the Premier League’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ club.

Rice told the club’s official website: “It’s typical West Ham in a way – don’t win in eight and then produce a performance like that! It shows we have still got the grit, the desire and the determination to go out there and put in a performance like that.

“Of late, I haven’t been great, I know that myself. I needed a big performance up against Mason, Kovacic and Jorginho in midfield because they aren’t up there in the top four for no reason. My performance alongside Nobes – and a big shout out to him because we worked so hard to nullify them and our gameplan worked – I’m so, so happy!”

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“We’ve got the confidence back now”

It has been a frustrating few months at the London Stadium, but Rice believes the club have been given fresh impetus following the Chelsea win and can now head into their next meeting against Wolves with renewed confidence.

He added: “Straight away now, we’re buzzing in the changing room but focus has got to turn to Wolves now.

“There’s no point putting in a performance like that and then going to Wolves and getting turned over because then we’re back in the deep end.

“We’ve got the confidence back now, which hasn’t been there on matchdays, when we haven’t really been turning up, so we’re going to go into that Wolves game with 100 per cent spirit and desire and hopefully we can get another three points.”

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