Vladimir Coufal has backed Declan Rice to lead Arsenal to silverware this season, despite their Carabao Cup hopes being ended on his miserable first return to West Ham on Wednesday night.
The ex-Hammers captain, who joined the Gunners in a £105million deal this summer, came off the bench at the London Stadium as Mikel Arteta’s side crashed out of the competition with a 3-1 fourth-round defeat.
Rice’s final act in a West Ham shirt was to lift the Europa Conference League in Prague earlier this year and while it is the 24-year-old’s former club who are into the quarter-finals and on the trophy trail once more, Irons full-back Coufal believes Arsenal will challenge for major honours elsewhere.
“I think they’ll win something for sure,” Coufal told Standard Sport. “They’ve won the Community Shield already, so he already has a trophy with Arsenal.
“It was something special, to see him on the other side of the pitch. He’s doing an incredible job for Arsenal, even better than he did for us. He’s an unbelievable player. It was strange to see him in different colours but we wish him all the best.”
West Ham went into last night’s game on the back of three successive defeats in all competitions, but were value for their victory as strikes from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus followed Ben White’s own goal, before Martin Odegaard grabbed a consolation with the final kick of the game.
The Hammers’ reward is a tough trip to Anfield in the last-eight but with the likes of Middlesbrough and Port Vale among the remaining contenders, the competition looks wide-open.
“Of course, we would like to win another trophy,” Coufal added. “It’s still very difficult. We know Manchester City are out, Manchester United, now Arsenal. But still there are a lot of good teams remaining.
“Every win against a team from the top-six or top end of the table his really good. It was Carabao Cup but we needed this win after three difficult defeats in a row. We have to go again on Saturday.”
Moyes’s men travel to an improving Brentford in the Premier League this weekend and were on Thursday checking on the fitness of captain Kurt Zouma ahead of that clash.
The Frenchman missed last night’s game with a knee problem and while the centre-back pairing of Konstantinos Mavropanos and Nayef Aguerd impressed, Zouma’s absence would be a significant blow for a side already set to be without Lucas Paqueta and Edson Alvarez because of suspension.
