Declan Rice responds to West Ham fans after being booed for 'disrespect' in Arsenal win
Declan Rice returned to his former club West Ham on Saturday night and was booed by the home fans in the London Stadium as Arsenal rampaged to a 5-2 win in a crazy first half
by Felix Keith · The MirrorDeclan Rice enjoyed his trip back to the London Stadium with Arsenal, despite being booed by West Ham supporters.
Rice was part of the Arsenal side which rampaged through the Hammers in the first half to secure a 5-2 win on Saturday evening. Goals from Gabriel Magalhaes, Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka came in a remarkable first 45 minutes for the away side.
West Ham scored through Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emerson Palmieri, but they proved to be little consolation for Julen Lopetegui’s side, who were blown away. There was a miserable atmosphere inside the London Stadium, with tempers boiling over as fans fought among themselves in the stands.
Hammers fans weren’t happy to see their former midfielder back on his old stomping ground and greeted his touches with boos. Rice left West Ham for Arsenal in a £105million transfer in the summer of 2023 after eight years in the first team.
Rice made his feelings clear in a post on Instagram after the match, writing: “Amazing win today! Nice to go back and see familiar faces. On to next we go.”
It seems that those feelings are not mutual, with one West Ham supporter voicing his displeasure on talkSPORT after the game. “Just on Declan Rice, obviously what he did for the club was brilliant but celebrating those goals today and moaning the way he does,” David said. “It’s just a bit disrespectful, that’s just the way I see it.”
Rice is unlikely to be too bothered by unhappy fans of his former club with Arsenal on a roll. The Gunners have now scored five times in back-to-back away games, having thrashed Sporting Lisbon 5-1 earlier in the week in the Champions League.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was informed in his post-match press conference that the seven goals in the first half equalled a Premier League record. “I didn’t know that, it tells you how crazy it was, how efficient both teams were in front of the goal. It was a spectacular thirty minutes,” he replied.
“Straight away how much the team wanted it, the purpose, the determination and quality that we deliver to score three great goals in different ways. Then score the fourth one as well in a really great way as well but then after that we had a period where the individual quality of them obviously played a big part, 4-2, and then its game on and you can sense that the energy has changed and then what’s next?
“I think it was great to score the fifth one as that calmed everything down and we could play a very different game that was much more suited to us.”
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