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Can Declan Rice stop Tottenham’s creative midfield?

By Scott Johnson

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 30: Declan Rice of West Ham United reacts during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Everton FC at London Stadium on March 30, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 30: Declan Rice of West Ham United reacts during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Everton FC at London Stadium on March 30, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /
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West Ham face a difficult matchup this weekend as they travel to London rivals Spurs. Can Declan Rice help stop a creative Spurs midfield?

When we asked if West Ham could upset Spurs this weekend, there wasn’t much of a positive response on social media. Many fans are simply writing us off, some are pessimistic (realistic) and others seem to be living in a dream world where we do well regularly against Spurs. Although the big teams have been the times we’ve performed over the season. And our best hope is shutting Spurs down.

To do that our back line must be wary of their forward movement, but everyone will agree we’re happier Llorente is their main striker rather than Kane. But Lucas Moura will look to expose space at the back as well, and their creativity in the midfield is exceptional. So we will need Declan Rice to be on top form to disrupt Eriksen and Ali in the middle.

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Declan Rice has had a standout year in the middle, and has made it into the England squad in their defensive midfield role. He has managed to give West Ham a solid centre in defence against the big sides, despite being without a competent midfield partner for much of the season. Even if you like the options we currently have, you have to say they’ve been inconsistent this year.

The trouble for Rice is that there’s only one of him, and two main midfield threats. Dele Ali will do what he can to drift from midfield and onto the centrebacks, overloading our defence. On the other hand Eriksen will do everything he can to pick the ball up in space and have longshots at goal or split the defence with his creative passing. Both of these require midfield attention to help negate, and whilst Rice is good, he’s still only one man. The other part of our two man central midfield will need to be making sure that the other threat is also looked after.

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So whilst Rice will be crucial if we are to get a positive result against Spurs, this won’t be a one man mission. It can’t be if we want a positive result, or even a positive performance. Spurs are Champions League semi-finalists and that doesn’t happen by accident. We will need to be on top of our game, and not just relying on one or two men to carry us through.