WEST HAM MANAGER David Moyes was left unimpressed after a mistake by Ireland international Declan Rice proved costly as West Ham were beaten 4-1 by Arsenal on Sunday.
Joe Hart did his chances of making England’s World Cup squad no harm with stunning saves from Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck.
However, he was caught flat-footed when Rice ducked out the way of Aaron Ramsey’s cross eight minutes from time and the ball floated into the far corner.
“Up until 82 minutes we were looking well worthy of a point,” said Moyes.
“The young player makes a really poor mistake on the second goal. I hope he learns from it because he’s got big potential, but I think it really flattened the team.”
And Arsenal piled on more mistery for the Hammers as Lacazette twice fired home from close range in the final five minutes.
The defeat left West Ham still seven points above the relegation zone, but their chances of survival were boosted as Stoke failed to beat Burnley in a 1-1 draw to remain four points off safety.
Rice recently made his senior international debut for Ireland against Turkey and is considered as one of the most promising youngsters in English football.
The 19-year-old has featured 27 times in all competitions this season for West Ham’s senior side.
Afterwards, he took to Twitter to acknowledge his mistake while vowing to recover from it.
I'm young.. I'll make mistakes.. it's all a leaning process to get to the top. thank you too the fans again who were brilliant❤⚒ ready to bounce back next week.
— Declan Rice (@_DeclanRice) April 22, 2018
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
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