PREMIER - West Ham, Rice: "I'm delighted for Lanzini's goal"

Commenting upon West Ham 3-2 away victory over Crystal Palace, in 2022 opening match, Hammers centre-back and defensive midfielder Declan Rice (turning 23 on January 14) stated:

“It was very tough. If you look at the game, in the first half we were probably luck to be in at 3-0 because of the chances they had, and then second half, we always talk about it as a team, that we need to be more confident, step up and put a bit more pressure onto them, but we sat back and gave away two sloppy goals. But, in the end, it’s three points, we’ve started the New Year well and we need to continue to build and be better.

It’s an amazing ball, the one Benrahma served Antonio. He does that all the time in training and it’s just about getting that consistency. When he comes in off the right, whipping them balls in for the striker, he’s always a threat, and I’m buzzing for him to get the assist. I think he’s a player who needs confidence to perform. He’s one you need to put your arm around and make him feel like he’s the best player. In training he’s always on fire and in games you always see glimpses of magic from him. He probably didn’t have the ball as much as he’d have wanted tonight, but when he did he made it count and played some pivotal passes, which was massive for us.

Lanzini's one was a great goal. He touched it on his right and brought it back on his left and it was a great finish. Manu is a special, special player and probably nobody else in the team would have been able to manoeuvre the ball that quick. For him to get another two goals, I’m delighted for him.

If you look at the schedule we’ve had, it’s been crazy, and we’ve done great to come out on top of it. They went up top with two strikers and with the atmosphere they have here at Selhurst Park, they can almost suck a goal in with the crowd. They were a handful, but we stood up to it. Obviously we didn’t want to concede the two goals, but in the end we stood strong and got the three points we wanted.”

It’s nice to hear about my 150th Premier League cap, making me the youngest ever to achieve that. I want to keep building and keep pushing and end the season with as many as possible and see what happens, keep going and keep racking up the appearances”.