Skipper Jarrod Bowen hailed his West Ham United teammates for coming through a gruelling Boxing Day trip to Southampton and earning three points that extended their impressive unbeaten run to four Premier League games.
The 28-year-old’s second-half strike ultimately proved the difference between the two sides at St Mary’s Stadium, powering the visitors to a sixth win of the campaign, and himself to second place in the Hammers’ all-time Premier League scoring ranks, above Mark Noble and Paolo Di Canio.
Now behind only Michail Antonio, having scored 48 times in the top-flight since his move to east London little under five years ago, Bowen was pleased with how his side handled playing against a team under the tutelage of a new manager, three weeks after falling to Leicester City in similar circumstances.
While he acknowledged the hosts were perhaps on top for spells throughout the game, our No20 pointed to the importance of hanging on to the full share of the spoils, that acts as the latest building block in a decent December run under Julen Lopetegui.
Bowen said: “A lot of things happened early in the game, but we knew it was going to be tough coming here, with them having a new manager.
“We had the same situation at Leicester, where we probably didn’t cope with it well enough, but we knew they’d have a lot of energy and probably have lots of chances, so it was about being able to control that.
“I think we had a few chances in the first half, and then they got a foothold in the game. But in the end it takes everything to win games in the Premier League, and if you’re one per cent down you get punished. The goal we got was a moment we took, and it’s meant we’ve won all three points.
“We needed to win this game. We knew that, coming off the back of two decent results, which were good draws, but we want to win games. Coming here today, we knew we had to win, and thankfully we’ve managed to do that.
“There are a lot of games in December and we knew it was a good opportunity to get points on the board, and we’ve done that with eight from the last 12. We know it could have been more, having conceded late on at Bournemouth, but overall it’s been a good run and we’ve gained a lot of confidence.”
On the goal itself, Bowen explained how he had anticipated where Niclas Füllkrug was going to nod the ball down inside the Southampton penalty area, and that he was delighted to be able to celebrate with the 3,000-strong travelling contingent in the nearby corner of the ground.
He continued: “Edson [Álvarez] did well to keep it alive and cross it in, and I knew Fülle [Füllkrug] would head it back across goal. It was just about anticipating where it was going to land and getting a toe on it, and thankfully I was able to do that. Then I was able to celebrate with the fans, and there’s nothing sweeter than that.
“It’s great to have got another goal, and to have climbed the records again. I actually texted Nobes [Mark Noble] about it before the Brighton game, and it didn’t happen then, but he’s already messaged me now to say that it was only a matter of time.
“I’ve known that it’s been at stake for a while now, and I always want to be beating records. I will be looking at number one now, but Mick [Michail Antonio] is still 20 ahead of me, so let’s see!”
While there were plenty of positives for the Claret and Blue Army to take from the Hampshire south coast, Łukasz Fabiański sustained a nasty injury in the first half, while Maximilian Kilman and Carlos Soler were similarly forced off and Tomáš Souček and Guido Rodríguez both picked up yellow cards that rule them out of Sunday’s visit of Liverpool at London Stadium.
But Bowen believes such adversity serves only as a boost to the team’s camaraderie, and he is looking forward to now going into tough-looking games against the Reds and Manchester City, and proving what West Ham have got.
“It was tough [with Fabiański], but in those sorts of situations you have to leave it to the medical staff," Bowen added. "Of course we were all worried, but he’s been in the changing room and he’s in really good spirits, which is great.
“We lost Max and Carlos as well, so it’s full credit to everyone. The players on the bench are always ready, and they showed that today. All the players are giving the manager big headaches, which is what you want.
“I think we’re in a good place right now, and we’re pleased our fans are going home happy. We go into two difficult games, but we’re full confidence and we’re looking to keep building.”
