'Not impressed': Brutal fallout over West Ham penalty debacle

West Ham captain Declan Rice says teammate Jesse Lingard has been banned from penalty duties after an incident in the Hammers' 2-0 win over Leeds in the English Premier League.

Lingard and Craig Dawson got the goals for the home side as David Moyes' men stayed firmly in contention for Champions League football next season.

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On-loan Manchester United star Lingard has been a revelation for the Hammers since joining at the end of January, with his goals and creativity offering West Ham another dimension in attack.

However, the forward's goal for the Hammers against Leeds came via a huge slice of fortune after he wrestled penalty duties off Rice.

The pair argued about who was going to take a penalty against Sheffield United last month, with Rice as Hammers captain, pulling rank on that occasion.

As it turns out, the West Ham captain should have done so against Leeds but this time he gave in to his teammate's pleas.

The result was an awful spot-kick that was saved by goalkeeper Illan Meslier, with Lingard fortunate enough to tap home the rebound off his own poor attempt.

Asked about the incident after the game, Rice suggested it's probably the last penalty his teammate will be taking for quite some time.

"The gaffer (Moyes) has just battered me in there! Me and Jess spoke and we've been practising in training together and he said 'can I take it? And I'm not one to be selfish," Rice told Sky Sports.

"There was a bit of controversy obviously with the last penalty and I was confident in him to go up and take the ball.

"Obviously, if he would have missed that, it would have been a bit of a backlash on me but I was confident in Jesse's ability to put the ball away.

"I'm not a player that's going to be 'oh yeah give me the ball'. Just let Jess have the ball, do his own thing.

"But the gaffer's just said in there, it's definitely me again! The next one now I'm going to have to say 'look Jess give me the ball back'."

Moyes admitted it was not a good spot-kick from Lingard but was happy with a win that leaves them just two points off the top four.

"I was not impressed by his penalty but I was impressed by his speed at turning it around," Moyes said.

"We are doing really well at the moment. We are having a good season, but we could have a great season. Our aim is to have a great season. If it were to finish now, we'd probably say we had a good year.

"I was disappointed when we dropped out of the top four. I'm not going to say we're going to finish in it, but why can we not hang in there and see what we can do? Anything in the top half of the league would be seen as a strong season for West Ham."

Hammers stay in touch with top four

West Ham's latest win keeps the pressure on fourth-placed Chelsea, who beat Everton 2-0 in the day's later game.

The Blues kept their unbeaten Premier League run under manager Thomas Tuchel alive after Kai Havertz inspired the home side to a vital win over the Toffees.

Havertz has endured a disappointing first season following his £70 million ($96 million) move from Bayer Leverkusen last year.

But the Germany forward was given a rare start by Tuchel and he responded by playing a key role in both goals at Stamford Bridge.

Havertz's shot was deflected into the Everton net for a Ben Godfrey own goal in the first half.

Playing in a false nine role for Chelsea, Havertz's intelligent movement put him in position to earn the second-half penalty that Jorginho converted.

"I'm very happy with his performance, no doubt about his quality, his talent and also his character," Tuchel said.

"He needs to adapt to the Premier League, he needs to be at a club where you play to win every game, where the highest standards are normal.

"That's a normal process for him to adapt to this mentality."

Chelsea are unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions - winning eight - since Tuchel replaced the sacked Frank Lampard in January.

with agencies

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