West Ham romp past Perth after Rice's exit confirmed
West Ham moved on from the departure of captain Declan Rice on Saturday with a 6-2 pre-season friendly victory over Perth Glory at Optus Stadium.
Having earlier in the day confirmed Rice's drawn-out exit to Arsenal, they showed slick forward passing in front of 24 723 fans.
But the Hammers needed a superb performance from goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to help overcome several lapses in only their second game since last month's Europa Conference League triumph.
Having been in a long-winded saga over Rice's transfer, West Ham are one of only two teams not to have signed new players ahead of the English Premier League season starting next month.
"He's a super player... he performed excellently for us," coach David Moyes said of his departed star.
"Of course, we've been preparing and getting things ready (for the summer transfer window)."
We can confirm Declan Rice has left the Club.— West Ham United (@WestHam) July 15, 2023
West Ham, who finished 14th in last season's Premier League, will wrap up their brief Australian tour against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday in Perth.
"We've scored six goals today, that's what we want to see," said Moyes, after a freewheeling second half in which his side scored four.
"We didn't play quite so well in the first half, but were much better and stronger in the second half."
With several star players absent, a youthful West Ham hit the scoreboard in the second minute after a low cross from Dan Chesters diverted into the leg of Glory defender Darryl Lachman and into his own net.
After a sluggish start, Glory began to penetrate a scrambling West Ham defence, only to be denied by Fabianski on multiple occasions.
West Ham made Glory rue those missed chances when Pablo Fornals was brought
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