AFC Wimbledon play host to West Ham United in the Carabao Cup tonight.
West Ham ace Declan Rice spoke exclusively to the club’s official website, and explained why tonight’s clash with AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup second round will be extra special for him.
The 19-year-old grew up near Wimbledon, and used to attend the Dons’ home matches as a schoolboy.
The fact that he was in attendance for Wimbledon’s FA Cup clash with Liverpool in 2015 is a sign of just how far he has come in the game.
Rice explained why tonight’s clash with the south west London outfit means so much to him personally, when speaking exclusively to the club’s official website:
“It’s crazy what has happened to Wimbledon. It’s only a small stadium but they’ve got a great fan base and you can hear them from my house whenever they’re playing! It will be good to go there and play, having been somewhere I went to watch play with my mates. It’s a five-minute walk from my house and I’ve been there to a few games down the years, with probably the most memorable being when they faced Liverpool in the FA Cup in January 2015. Liverpool won 2-1 and it was a good game. I also went to a game when they beat Fleetwood to stay in League Two back in 2014 and we all ran on the pitch and all sorts!”
West Ham have made a torrid start to their Premier League campaign, and the last thing they need is to be dumped out of the League Cup by lower league opposition.
They will have to be at their very best physically if they are to progress through to the next round, and Rice will be hoping for a chance to impress at his old stomping ground.
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