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David Moyes believes his West Ham players have stepped up since the departure of Declan Rice in the same way his Everton team did after losing Wayne Rooney.
The Hammers have shown no signs of missing Rice, who joined Arsenal in a £105million move this summer, with three wins and a draw from their opening four games.
Moyes compared managing Rice’s exit to his rebuild at Everton after Rooney’s move to Manchester United in 2004 – the Toffees went on to qualify for the Champions League in the following season.
‘But you go out and try and buy more team players. But also people inside the building have to stand up a little bit more.
The Hammers signed Championship side Southampton’s star player James Ward-Prowse
West Ham have secured three wins and a draw in their opening four games of the season so far
Ward-Prowse has bagged three assists and one goal for the Hammers in his first three matches
The Hammers have shown no signs of missing Rice, who joined Arsenal in a £105million move this summer, with a successful start of three wins and a draw from their opening four games
‘I think that happened then and my early feeling is that’s happening now. Although it’s early days, that’s what we want from them.
‘Years ago this club lost Dimitri Payet who was probably the talisman. But the club has to move on and that’s what happens in football.
‘You’re quite quickly forgotten about and we have to find a team and a way of playing that suits the players we have.
‘We have a strong group with players like Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski and James Ward-Prowse. We have a group of senior leaders including Michail Antonio. So they’ve all stepped up and in many cases they were a huge help to Declan, as was Mark Noble.’
West Ham’s unbeaten run will be put to the test when they face Premier League leaders Manchester City at home this afternoon.
