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THE CITY GROUND, NOTTINGHAM — David Moyes refused to confirm whether Declan Rice is West Ham United's permanent new penalty taker following the midfielder's miss against Nottingham Forest.
The Irons fell to a second defeat of the season on a sweltering Sunday afternoon in the East Midlands, as Forest produced a 1-0 victory in their first home Premier League game in 23 years.
Taiwo Awoniyi was the scorer of the winning goal, but an equally heroic contribution for the Reds came at the opposite end of the field, in the form of Dean Henderson's penalty save.
MORE: Full match report from Nottingham Forest 1-0 West Ham
In the second half, West Ham were awarded a spot-kick after a VAR check due to a handball from Scott McKenna. Said Benrahma — one of the visitors' very few bright sparks all game — broke well down the left and squared perfectly for Tomas Soucek, but the Czech's effort was blocked by McKenna's arm.
Henderson would've got to it had the centre-back not intervened, and eventually did get to it from Rice's resulting effort. The talismanic central midfielder, who dictated the tempo of the game after a rough opening 20 minutes, telegraphed his effort down to the Manchester United loanee's right side.
In addition to taking on the captain's armband from Mark Noble following the 35-year-old's retirement this summer, it looked as though Rice had also assumed penalty-taking responsibilities. Moyes isn't so sure, though.
*Video only available in the UK:
PENALTY SAVED!! 😮Declan Rice has a chance to equalise for the Hammers from the spot but he can't put it past Dean Henderson! ⛔ pic.twitter.com/qdLjVcsdNF— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL)
In his post-match press conference, at first the manager nodded when asked whether Rice was now the Irons' first-choice from the spot. He then said: "Manuel Lanzini took the penalty kicks and scored them last season. We had Declan in mind today."
However, when pressed on it, Moyes became frustrated — understandably so, as the 32C/90F heat was enough to get the better of anyone, let alone an angry 59-year-old Glaswegian whose team are pointless after two games.
He added: "No, that doesn’t mean [he'll be on them] all season. Declan was on penalties today."
During his iconic two-decade stay in the West Ham first team, Noble was renowned for his record from 12 yards. In the Premier League, he netted 28/33 (84.8%), and had a perfect 12/12 across other competitions.
Lanzini, who Moyes mentioned, has a similarly strong return. The Argentinian has converted 5/6 (83.3%) in the Premier League, plus another 1/1 prior to joining West Ham.
Rice, though, has so far scored just 1/3 penalties. He's faced a trio of English goalkeepers: scoring past Aaron Ramsdale in a 2020/21 win over Sheffield United, failing against Sam Johnstone of West Bromwich Albion in the same campaign, and then against Henderson here.
