West Ham were 45 minutes away from causing an upset at the weekend, as an Angelo Ogbonna’s header put them in front against Manchester City at the Etihad during the first half.
However, the league leaders and favourites proved their quality by battling back to grab their 13th consecutive victory of the EPL campaign.
Nevertheless, the performance was the best the Hammers have had this term, and Declan Rice, who started his first league game ever, believes only luck was against his side against Pep Guardiola’s side.
The 18-year-old told whufc.com post-game: “Without a doubt, there were a lot of positives to take from today’s showing.
“I think a lot of people thought we were down and out before the game even started. You read silly things and people seemed to believe we were going to come and get beat.
“But I thought we were excellent today. We need to be putting in that effort every single week. We were just unlucky today. No one even thought we would score.
“To go 1-0 up at half-time at the Etihad – they are top of the league. It was a good moment for us.
“We went in from the first half buzzing but we knew there was still 45 minutes to go. Second half, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
West Ham host Chelsea and Arsenal in the coming matchdays, and they face an uphill task of picking a point against the title-contending London duo.
Regardless, Rice believes should his side set the City game as their benchmark performance going forward, anything can’t be ruled out.
He concluded: “I think we just need to look at the positives. We’ve got to get into training on Monday, watch the game back, look at the positives and take that.
“That’s the minimum every week now. That’s the standard that we need to be setting every week. There’s a lot to take from it.”
West Ham are currently 19th on the log having managed to pick up just 10 points from the opening 15 games.
