Stuart Pearce praises West Ham pair Marko Arnautovic and Declan Rice

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Stuart Pearce seemed to back West Ham United pair Declan Rice and Marko Arnautovic for the Player of the Year crown.

In comments reported by West Ham’s official website, Stuart Pearce has heaped praise on what Marko Arnautovic and Declan Rice have achieved this season as he discussed the Hammer of the Year award.

It has been a turbulent season for the Irons and they are certainly not out of the woods just yet in the Premier League. David Moyes’ men are six points clear of the bottom three with four games to go and do not have an easy final handful of games.

It is however, a much better situation than many Hammers fans would have expected at various points of the campaign. They were in the bottom three after losing to Manchester City in December and, of course, the 3-0 home loss to Burnley saw many supporters express their desperation for a change.

But with the picture looking brighter, it may be slightly more difficult – for positive reasons – to decide who will win the Hammer of the Year. And Pearce, who is a previous recipient of the award, seemed to hint that two players would be leading contenders in his eyes.

“Over the course of a season, you can’t turn around and say there haven’t been some big plusses. Certainly Marko [Arnautovic] has done well, scoring goals, particularly since the new manager has come through the door,” he told the club’s official website.

“Declan has staked a claim at being a first-team player, so there have been some real solid performances through the group. It’s right and proper we celebrate that and how well the players have done.

“It’s like everything, if you don’t think you’ve done well enough this season when everything pans out, well, learn by it and improve next year.”

Arnautovic’s goalscoring form undoubtedly makes him the favourite for the award. He has scored 10 times in the league and without those goals and his general form since Moyes arrived, they may have remained in the bottom three heading into this stage of the season.

Meanwhile, Rice is clearly a star of the future but has looked unfazed by the demands of playing regularly for a side that have gone into a significant number of games with a huge amount of pressure on their shoulders. If anyone could justify poaching the award from the Austrian forward, it is arguably the 19-year-old.