Jarrod Bowen was all smiles after scoring his fifth Premier League goal of the season in Saturday’s 2-0 home win over Sheffield United.
The England international made another case for a recall to Gareth Southgate’s squad with the opener at London Stadium, slotting Vladimír Coufal’s cross past Wes Foderingham to set the Hammers on their way on 24 minutes.
That goal was Bowen’s first on home turf this season, in addition to the four he has netted on the Irons’ travels already in games at AFC Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Luton Town and Liverpool – matching a Club record set by Vic Watson over 90 years ago!
“It was a nice goal and a nice bit of build-up!” he enthused. “I think we had an idea we might have a bit of the ball, but it was about not keeping the ball for the sake of it, as there had to be a purpose at the end of it, and when it was time to turn it on it was intricate one-touch and a really good goal from everyone involved.”
The 26-year-old provided a threat throughout against the Blades and had already been denied by Foderingham before putting David Moyes’ side in front, and he will surely come into Southgate’s thoughts again for a friendly international with Australia and UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier with Italy in October.
Tomáš Souček doubled West Ham’s lead on 37 minutes and the Londoners saw the game out professionally to make it four wins from their opening seven matches and maintain seventh place in the Premier League table, pleasing their in-form No20.
“We’ve had a couple of disappointing results, but we were playing against first and second in the league,” he explained. “We’ve got two more games before the international break, both at home, and we want maximum points from both, so today was a great start for that.
“It was massive to get back to winning ways. Today was about winning the game and doing a professional job and if we want to be competing in the top six at the top end of the table, which is the aspiration for this Club, then we have to win this game.
“It’s onto our European game on Thursday, then Newcastle next Sunday when it’s another opportunity to get points on the board going into the internationals.”
Sheffield United may have lost 8-0 at home to Newcastle United in their previous fixture, and had their confidence further dented by falling two goals behind by half-time at London Stadium, but Bowen never expected an easy afternoon against the Yorkshiremen.
He explained: “When you’ve got a two-goal lead, you know the next goal is going to be really important and while we didn’t score one, they didn’t score one either, so in the end the job that we did in the first half got us through to the end.
“Maybe we could have scored a third goal to really put the game to bed, but we had to defend and we did that and came away with two goals and a clean sheet.
“It was always going to be a difficult game. I think some people thought it might be a bit of a cruise, but when you lose like they did last week there was always going to be a reaction from them and this is the Premier League so nothing is easy.
“It was about us getting that first goal, which we did, then we got the second and that was all we needed to get the win and the three points and I don’t think anyone is going to complain about that.”
