Rice true to his word as screamer earns a share of spoils

LESS than a fortnight ago, Declan Rice sat in the depths of Anderlecht’s Lotto Park and talked of his desire to start grabbing more games “by the scruff of the neck”.

- Malik Ouzia

Southampton 1

Perraud 20 

West Ham 1

Rice 64 

Here yesterday, with the ball refusing to go in for West Ham’s more likely goalscorers, he did just that, exchanging passes with substitute Said Benrahma and driving forward before curling a sensational finish into the far corner to earn a 1-1 draw with struggling Southampton.

With 26 minutes to play, there was no dash to retrieve the ball, no headdown sprint back to the halfway line, Rice instead knee-sliding in front of the away end to salute a true captain’s goal, his first since inheriting the armband from Mark Noble on a permanent basis and ending a Premier League drought that had lasted almost a year.