West Ham captain Declan Rice has issued an apology to the fans after a shockingly poor performance and result at the weekend which is another setback in our fight for survival.

Confidence has been somewhat lifting in recent weeks, with signs that performances were improving, especially after the previous league game in which our Hammers disposed of Nottingham Forest 4-0 at London Stadium.

However the display against Brighton at the weekend, which saw West Ham suffer the same reversed scoreline from last week, has caused fury in East London with many again calling for changes at the club.

Declan Rice couldn’t hide his pain and anger following the match, and admitted that the club had badly let the fans down – although he insisted that they’ll be working hard to put right an awful day for West Ham.

“You have to apologise to the fans because we have let them and the Club down,” admitted Rice to the clubs Official Website.

“I am hurting, all the lads are hurting. Last week we won 4-0, and then played really well in the FA Cup. So to have this result is a real setback.”

Rice now is fully focused on getting things back on track, with a trip to Cyprus on Thursday to face AEK Larnaca in the Europa Conference League followed by a huge must-win encounter against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.

“I said to all the lads, we listen to ourselves and the people around us, and we stick together as a group and move on to the next one,” added the England midfielder.

“We know it was not good enough today but let’s try and bounce back on Thursday and then we will have Villa on Sunday. I am sure our fans will be behind us in these next two fixtures.”