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Football London
Football London
Sport
Kadeem Simmonds

Declan Rice, Lucas Paqueta, Thilo Kehrer - West Ham World Cup stars' Arsenal availability

West Ham United's first team coach Billy McKinlay believes Declan Rice and the other World Cup stars will be available to play against Arsenal on Boxing Day.

Rice was knocked out with England at the quarter-final stage and was present at Saturday's 1-1 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage. Lucas Paqueta was also knocked out at the same stage with Brazil. France's Alphonse Areola made the final with France while Nayef Aguerd lost the third-place play-off to Croatia - who boast out on loan midfielder Nikola Vlasic.

Thilo Kehrer was another Iron who represented his national side in Qatar, Germany going out in the group stage, with all players returning fit outside of Aguerd, who missed the semi-final defeat to France and was carrying an injury heading into the fixture.

READ MORE: West Ham United confirm Sao Paulo Brazilian defender January signing with 'evolution' claim made

With such a quick turnaround between the tournament and the return of Premier League football, some players will have to wait for making their club return but for the Hammers contingent who have spent time in the Middle East the past few months, McKinlay believes they will be able to jump straight in away to league leaders Arsenal.

"That's good, he must be getting bored already, he must be missing us," he said after the mid-season friendly. "They have played a lot of games, a lot of high quality games, these guys, but he will be fine after a couple of days' rest, a couple of days to think about other things, they should be good and all ready to go."

He added "I would hope so, I don't see any reason why not. They will be desperate to play and it is a great game. Arsenal have probably been the best team in the country for the first half of the season, so it is a really good game and I am sure they will be ready to go."

Saturday's fixture finished 1-1 after Jarrod Bowen struck in the second half to cancel out Carlos Vinicius' opener for Fulham.

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