West Ham: Life after Declan Rice as Hammers bounce back in style to beat Arsenal

Of the various rivalries that crisscross London’s club football scene, that between Arsenal and West Ham has seldom been much to write home about. If anything, they have simply shared hatred of Tottenham. But the summer’s transfer saga around Rice did, between sets of supporters at least, provoke some friction and while one should always be wary of transposing social media into stadia, the prodigal son’s first return did seem to add some atmospheric spice to an encounter that for 45 minutes was, frankly, deserving of none.