Declan Rice strengthens England claims with impressive performance in West Ham win against Newcastle

Declan Rice impressed in front of England assistant manager Steve Holland on the day West Ham honoured Billy Bonds.

Midfielder Rice opened the scoring against a lacklustre Newcastle side to increase the likelihood of a call-up for the internationals with the Czech Republic and Montenegro later this month. Perhaps more significantly, he also topped the game’s tally for both tackles and passes.

Bonds, who skippered the Hammers to FA Cup final wins in 1975 and 1980 but never earned a full England cap, joined fellow Upton Park icons Sir Trevor Brooking and Bobby Moore in having a stand at the London Stadium named after him.

Fittingly it was a fellow midfield enforcer who headed the Hammers in front in the seventh minute, from a corner. Not Mark Noble, the Londoner with more than 450 Hammers games to his name (Bonds finished on 799) but the relative newcomer Rice, a fans’ favourite nonetheless.

The 20-year-old, having recently signed a long-term club deal as well as discarding the Republic of Ireland to declare for England, lost marker Fabian Schar to nod home Robert Snodgrass’s delivery into the six-yard box. Holland, taking notes after England manager Gareth Southgate had assessed goalkeeper Tom Heaton at Burnley earlier in the day, must have been impressed.

So too Bonds, who had been visibly emotional as he cut the ribbon to open his new stand, and the old combatant would certainly have recognised previous episodes of the game’s next incident, a clash of heads between Hammer Aaron Cresswell and Newcastle’s Javier Manquillo that saw claret spilt by both men. The latter needed bandaging up during a lengthy stoppage for treatment.

Rice then clattered Ayoze Perez in true Bondsian style, with Noble then scything down Miguel Almiron from behind to earn himself the game’s first yellow card.

Perez slotted the ball into the West Ham net just before the half-hour mark, but was clearly offside. Newcastle attacks were sporadic to say the least.

Sean Longstaff, their young midfielder and fast establishing himself like Rice, fashioned Newcastle’s next chance with a fine diagonal ball to pick out Manquillo’s run into the box but Angelo Ogbonna was alert to block.

Cresswell was unable to continue, with Arthur Masuaku replacing him before Snodgrass’s clever dink into the box was only just too high for Manuel Lanzini to collect.

Schar was booked for bodychecking Felipe Anderson on the edge of the box. Lanzini saw his free-kick charged down and his follow-up curl harmlessly wide.

Longstaff, who can expect and England Under-21 call-up soon, was next to be cautioned for a distinctly 1970s lunge that left Snodgrass writhing in pain and within seconds Newcastle conceded a penalty. Florian Lejeune was the man who conceded it by mistiming his tackle on Javier Hernandez and Noble lifted the spot-kick high beyond Martin Dubravka for a 42nd-minute lead doubler.

Newcastle knew they would have to be bolder in the second period but Perez shanked their first chance wide from an inviting angle on the right.

The next opportunity belonged to the hosts however, with Hernandez unable to hit the target at full stretch when Lanzini zinged in a cross to the back post. The Mexican found the side-netting with his next attempt and was replaced by Marko Arnautovic for the final 20 minutes.

Salomon Rondon had been kept quiet by the Hammers backline and when a chance came his way from Matt Ritchie’s cross his header was blocked by Masuaku. Record signing Miguel Almiron then poked harmlessly wide and Rondon saw a free-kick from 20 yards saved by Lukasz Fabianski; it was that sort of evening for Newcastle.

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