Declan Rice wants to play as often as possible despite West Ham’s packed fixture schedule ahead of the World Cup.

The Hammers face a daunting 12 matches in 37 days before England midfielder Rice is due to jet off to Qatar.

That sequence begins with Thursday night’s Europa Conference League group-stage meeting with Anderlecht in Belgium.

But Hammers skipper Rice has no fears of burning himself out ahead of Three lions duty.

“There’s a World Cup coming up, but the focus is West Ham because we need to push up the table,” Rice said at the pre-match press conference.

“Sometimes it’s a luck thing whether you get injured, but I try to keep myself as fit and healthy as possible away from the pitch.

“I want to play as many games as I can. I like to keep playing, to keep the momentum building. That’s where the confidence lies and last season that was key for me.”

West Ham will be without winger Maxwel Cornet after the summer signing from Burnley suffered a calf strain during the first half of Sunday’s Premier League win against Wolves.

Hammers boss David Moyes said: “It was difficult because we want to get Maxi up to speed.

“He didn’t have many pre-season games and he’s contributed in quite a few of the games recently, but he’s not with us over here.”

Moyes has named 16-year-old midfielder Ollie Scarles in his travelling party.

“We’ve brought Ollie with us and I know Anderlecht have some young players too,” Moyes added.

“It’s a great thing that young players get their opportunities and we always want to promote the younger players if they’re doing well.”

West Ham top Group B with two wins from two and could seal their qualification for the knockout stages with two more victories in their double-header with Anderlecht

Thursday’s tie is the second competitive European meeting between the two clubs – the first was Anderlecht’s 4-2 win over West Ham in the 1976 European Cup Winners’ Cup final.