Stan Collymore has heralded West Ham United duo Issa Diop and Declan Rice for their performances on Sunday afternoon.
The Hammers took on Chelsea at the London Stadium at the weekend and managed to hold their opponents to a 0-0 stalemate, giving Manuel Pellegrini’s side another point to add to their name in the Premier League.
However, despite the positive result, Collymore has singled out Rice and Diop for praise in his team of the week – he hailed centre-back Diop for the way played beyond his 21 years, while saying it was easy to see why the Irons’ fans loved Rice so much – even taking a cheeky dig at the Blues after they let him go from their youth system.
“Turning in a performance which belied his 21 years, West Ham’s summer signing was excellent in subduing a Chelsea side who came to the London Stadium with a 100 per cent record,” he wrote in his column for the Mirror.
“They love this 19-year-old (Rice) at the London Stadium and on Sunday it was easy to see why. He was also the only player on the pitch to have come through Chelsea’s academy!”
OPINION
Collymore is not the only pundit to include these two in his team of the week – Alan Shearer was also full of praise for the young pair in his selection too. However, they both deserve all of the compliments that they can get – they were both mightily impressive against the Blues on Sunday. For two players that are so young, they were clearly the two players that stood out from the rest on the field. It shows that putting faith in youngsters does pay off – some managers can view doing it as being risky, but Manuel Pellegrini has shown that putting faith in them can pay off in the end. Based on this display, there is no doubt that they will hold their places in the first team for the forseeable future – and who knows, we may have just seen a glimpse of West Ham’s long-term future. With this duo starting every week, the Hammers will continue to shine and churn out positive results.
