Stuart Pearce reckons West Ham may have now found ‘the new Declan Rice’

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West Ham are finally back to winning ways, as Nuno Espirito Santo guided them towards his first victory as manager, beating Newcastle over the weekend.

The Hammers have endured a tough start to the season, but goals from Lucas Paqueta and Tomas Soucek, along with a slice of luck from Sven Botman’s own goal, have added three more valuable points to their tally.

It comes after a few weeks of Nuno Espirito Santo trying to find the best team, with several tactical tweaks made in a short space of time.

Now, though, West Ham may well have that winning formula, all thanks to the introduction of Freddie Potts, who has come in for plenty of praise from Stuart Pearce.

Stuart Pearce compares Freddie Potts to Declan Rice at West Ham

There is plenty of quality in the West Ham squad, but there have been some fundamentals missing within the team itself.

The Hammers have lacked pace and energy at times, contributing to the difficult start they have endured.

Espirito Santo changed all of that with his starting lineup as West Ham beat Newcastle with an impressive performance to back it up.

Some of that is thanks to Freddie Potts, who impressed on his full debut for the club in midfield, earning the player of the match award.

In the wake of that, Stuart Pearce has gone on to praise the academy graduate, telling Premier League Productions’ The Weekend Wrap: “Freddie Potts came in and played extremely well.

“I’m proud of him. Knowing his dad and working with the young man himself, a smashing young lad, maybe they’ve found someone there who is the new Declan Rice at West Ham.”

There were certainly shades of Declan Rice in Potts’ performance, as he was simply everywhere across the pitch.

It was almost a dream debut when he thought he scored, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.

In all, though, the 22-year-old has certainly made a statement with his performance and should be pushing to make an appearance against Burnley.

Freddie Potts wants to fight for West Ham place

West Ham could be accused of lacking fight in recent weeks, but their win over Newcastle proved they can battle with the best.

Potts epitomised that, not just in his play, but in what he said about his place in the team after the game.

Speaking to the official West Ham website, he said: “I just wanted to fight for my shirt. I think it’s a saying, but you’ve got to do everything on the pitch to show the manager and show everyone that you want to be here and you want to play in the Premier League, and I just wanted to win every battle that I could out there and do everything I could for the team, and I think we all did that together as a team today.

“I think it wasn’t just me, but there were a lot of players, everyone did it. We all fought for the shirt, and we came away with three points, which I think was deserved.”

Potts has certainly made a claim for the shirt again in the coming relegation battle with Burnley, which could get West Ham that little bit closer to being comfortable again.