Mark Noble has confirmed that West Ham United star Declan Rice should be fine for Saturday’s match against Everton at Goodison Park.
The 20-year-old has been suffering from a virus during the international break and missed the Three Lions’ 6-0 victory over Bulgaria in Sofia after disappointing against the Czech Republic.
The Hammers’ captain revealed that Rice has returned to West Ham training recently, and admitted that he is now over the worst of his setback, and should be ready to feature in Merseyside.
“It was also good to welcome back Declan Rice to our training ground after his involvement with England,” he wrote in his column for the Evening Standard.
“He has been suffering from a virus for a time, but he’s over the worst and should be okay for our match at Everton tomorrow.”
Football.London journalist Sam Inkersole recently claimed that either Carlos Sanchez or Jack Wilshere are in line to replace the midfielder should he miss out.
OPINION
This is the news that all West Ham fans will have been praying for before Saturday’s trip to Everton. Rice has quickly established himself as one of the Hammers’ best players in the past couple of seasons, and his defensive ability will have been desperately missed if he was sidelined for the game at Goodison Park. The 20-year-old may have come under heavy criticism for his performance for England, but there is no doubting his importance to West Ham. Rice is the one player in midfield who sits in front of the defence and breaks up opposition sides when they attack, a vital part of Pellegrini’s team. The young midfielder has averaged an impressive 3.8 tackles per game according to WhoScored, which is almost three times as many tackles that Noble averages. With Rice reporting back to training, it should mean that Pellegrini will name the exact same side that lost against Crystal Palace last time out.
