Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer has named a West Ham United trio in his Premier League Team of the Week, raving over both youth and experience.
The Hammers shared the spoils with Chelsea on Sunday afternoon after playing out a 0-0 stalemate at the London Stadium, and Shearer has identified Issa Diop, Pablo Zabaleta and Declan Rice as his pick for his Team of the Week.
Shearer waxed lyrical over the three players, praising Zabaleta for his experience, whilst commenting on how Diop was able to keep Chelsea’s attack quiet and how Rice played with a sense of authority despite his young age.
“Experience counts and [Pablo Zabaleta] showed it all against Chelsea. [Issa Diop] was impressive and helped keep Eden Hazard and Co quiet for a first clean sheet of the season,” he told the Premier League website.
“A performance full of maturity from [Declan Rice]. He was organising with an authority that belies his 19 years.”
OPINION
Shearer is right to select these three West Ham players in his team of the week. Chelsea were rather quiet going forward on Sunday, and this is largely down to the presence of Diop in the centre of the defence. Keeping players like Eden Hazard and Willian quiet for the duration of the game is a pretty impressive thing to accomplish, and Diop clearly did it with ease. As for Rice, it is not surprising that Shearer has commented on the fact that he can play with an authority far beyond is 19 years. It is easy to forget that he is still so young when he is on the pitch, but this only means that he can set the standard even higher for himself for the rest of the season. Even though they did not win, West Ham earned a valuable point here – but some may have felt that it was two points lost with the number of chances that they conjured up.
