West Ham captain Declan Rice rose to the occasion against Arsenal after being challenged by pundit Roy Keane to step up against the Gunners.
Rice, who was on target for England in the March international break, has been challenged by some to offer more in an attacking sense for his club. He might not have found the net against the Gunners, but played a big part in the move which saw West Ham pull a goal back from the penalty spot before Jarrod Bowen completed a turnaround from 2-0 down.
Arsenal themselves have been linked with a summer move for Rice, who has also been on the radar of Chelsea and Manchester United over the last couple of seasons. The 24-year-old impressed on his audition, too, with Jamie Carragher among those to
"He should be," Keane told Sky Sports when asked if Rice ought to approach the game as a chance to prove himself. "Obviously he’s been linked with getting a move maybe this summer, we’ve been a little bit critical of his attacking play but we all know Declan Rice is an amazing player and hopefully we’re going to see the best of him today, particularly the defensive side of his game.
Rice began the game as the more advanced of West Ham's three central midfielders, but was tasked to make interceptions high up the field. David Moyes' side couldn't take immediate advantage, falling 2-0 behind early on, but another Rice intervention allowed him to feed Lucas Paqueta to win a penalty for the hosts.
Said Benrahma converted from the spot, just as he did in the reverse fixture, and Jarrod Bowen brought the Hammers level after the break. That's how it ended, and Carragher paid particular attention to Rice's role in the home side's first goal.
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"It starts in the middle of the pitch, Partey, he’s claiming handball but Declan Rice does fantastic," Carragher said. "Gabriel, just at that last second throws himself to the floor, I think he just leaves his leg trailing there, Paqueta, to make sure he gets the penalty.
"You think around about this time at Anfield and you think about doing silly things, you think about Xhaka getting involved and lifting the Anfield crowd, and you felt the only way for West Ham to get back into this was maybe something silly from Arsenal around the back, taking a chance.
"It can change so quickly and Xhaka, we pointed at his role last week, Gabriel’s frustrated, he’s been outstanding for most of this season but it was Declan Rice and Partey - come against each other two or three times already when Partey’s had the ball, Declan Rice is just trying to show him he’s going to go after him."
Keane, too, was impressed by the England midfielder's role in the 33rd-minute goal. " To be fair to Declan he’s made a good decision, when you gamble there you’ve got to go and win the ball and it’s really poor from Arsenal, obviously Partey, sloppy," the Irishman said. "That was the only way West Ham were going to get back into the game, Arsenal being sloppy, and there you go."
Early goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard had put the Gunners 2-0 up inside 10 minutes, but for the second week in a row the league leaders dropped points. They still had chances to make the points safe, with Bukayo Saka putting a penalty off-target at 2-1, but the result puts an incredible amount of pressure on the upcoming top-of-the-table clash with Manchester City.
Arsenal travel to the Etihad on April 26, but have a home meeting with Southampton before then. City will have two games in hand by the time they face the Gunners, due to their FA Cup responsibilities next weekend.
