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West Ham's Edson Alvarez not feeling Declan Rice 'pressure' ahead of Newcastle United clash

The Hammers midfielder has had big boots to fill following Declan Rice's big-money move to Arsenal in the summer

West Ham United's Edson Alvarez
West Ham United's Edson Alvarez(Image: PA)

West Ham midfielder Edson Alvarez insists he feels no pressure despite replacing Declan Rice in the Hammers midfield. Boss David Moyes turned to Mexico midfielder Alvarez after former skipper Rice completed his £105million switch to Arsenal.


The 25-year-old arrived for £32million from Ajax in the summer and has immediately impressed in the holding midfield role vacated by Rice.


"Do I feel pressure? No not really. In my first time in Ajax, I had to replace Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong, but I never put this pressure on myself," he said ahead of Sunday's game with Newcastle United at the London Stadium. "I'm a different player. I bring what I can bring; my spirit, my fight, everything. Believe me, I don't try to put any of that on my mind, I just want to show the people my quality and my ability.


"I know the responsibility but at the end of the day I'm doing what I want to do and what I want to bring to the Premier League."

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The Hammers have made a fine start to the season, lying seventh in the Premier League and on top of Group A in the Europa League following Thursday night's 2-1 win in Freiburg.

"At the moment we're doing good things in the Premier League and we want to keep going and fight for top-six positions," added Alvarez. "We're in a good way, we have very good players and the team is very together as well.

"We're working for that. The guys in the past showed already that they could win the Europa Conference League so why not? If we can keep doing what we do, then of course."

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Headers from Lucas Paqueta and Nayef Aguerd in Freiburg stretched West Ham's unbeaten run in Europe to 17 matches, a record for an English club. They face Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday.

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