Declan Rice absence explained as West Ham lose star for Man City game in blow to Arsenal | Football | Sport

West Ham’s task against Manchester City has been made that bit tougher with Declan Rice one of three players ruled out of the match late in the day due to sickness. David Moyes’ side are still looking to move clear of the relegation zone as they sit four points above 18th-placed Nottingham Forest.

Back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Crystal Palace have cost them recently and it doesn’t get any easier with a trip to City up next. West Ham haven’t beaten City at the Etihad in the Premier League since 2015 and Moyes would have been hoping to have a fully-fit squad to choose from to help end that run.

However, West Ham’s matchday squad was down to the bare bones with Rice and Tomas Soucek both noticably missing. Regular centre-back pairing Nayef Aguerd and Kurt Zouma were also not involved.

The Frenchman was unavailable after picking up a knock in the defeat to Crystal Palace last week. But Moyes confirmed ahead of kick-off on Wednesday night the other three were not involved due to a sickness bug.

He said: “We worked on our team yesterday but unfortunately overnight a few of them took ill. Hopefully it’s not too bad, but it is what it is. We had named some of the players who are not here in the side but two or three of them are unwell and there’s nothing we can do with it.

“It was too late to bring any of the young boys up to add to the bench. It gives some of the other players opportunity. We have been here a few times and tried to make it as hard as possible and we’ll look to do that again.”