ITV commentator and presenter Sam Matterface has said that West Ham United will be in “massive, massive trouble” if Declan Rice gets injured at the World Cup.
The Hammers slipped to their seventh defeat of the season as they lost 1-0 at Old Trafford to Manchester United on Sunday.
They have dropped to 13th in the standings as a result, now seven points off the top six with their inconsistent form hindering their progression up the table.
It’s just one win in four league games for David Moyes’ side and Matterface has voiced his concern.
Speaking on the TalkSport GameDay podcast, he said:
Will Rice leave West Ham next summer?Yes!
No!
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“I think they’re going to run into a few bits of trouble over the next few months and weeks because you’ve got the World Cup interruption.
“Declan Rice is their sort of lynchpin, their keystone in the middle of the park. If anything happens to him during the World Cup, they’re in massive, massive trouble defensively.
“They don’t seem set. They haven’t been set all season. They’ve had injuries and issues with personnel and they’ve had to chop and change, Thilo Kehrer played right back yesterday in their game against Manchester United, Zouma and Dawson together.
“Dawson you know, good solid personnel but not necessarily the type of progressive centre-half that they want going forward.
“I just think they look a little bit off it, to be honest with you West Ham and they’ve been on an impressive run. They’ve been grinding out results, but the next few weeks are going to be really important for David Moyes.”
TIF Thoughts on Matterface’s comments…
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Rice is set to play a major role for England at the upcoming showpiece in Qatar and as pointed out by Matterface an injury to their captain could be detrimental to the Irons’ season.
The 23-year-old has already played 18 times for the east Londoners this season including featuring in every minute of the Premier League campaign.
He is the side’s highest-performing player with a 7.06 average match rating (WhoScored) and ranks first in the side for interceptions and pass completion.
Also second for tackles, blocks and key passes the 34-cap Three Lions star is pivotal to West Ham’s hopes of finishing in the European places but a setback at the World Cup could well be a fatal blow for the club.