Jarrod Bowen was back to his best after scoring two vital goals that sealed West Ham United’s 2-0 win against relegation rivals Everton.
The winger has struggled to recapture the form seen last season where he scored 18 goals and provided 13 assists in 51 appearances. Bowen had netted just five times before Everton’s visit to the London Stadium, but the 26-year-old made the difference in a crucial relegation battle clash.
His two first-half goals helped the Hammers to climb out of the bottom three and up to 15th, with Bournemouth taking their place in the relegation zone after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest.
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Moyes told BBC’s Match of the Day programme of Bowen’s disappointment at being left out of the England squad for the World Cup in Qatar, adding that West Ham have been missing the goalscoring form he showed last term. Former England striker and host Gary Lineker said he was back to his best against Everton, with ex Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy adding: “He was. He was the difference between the two teams in a game that wasn’t full of quality.
“He was at it. From minute one, he was looking to get in behind, he was coming off that right hand side like he knew he hadn’t been playing that well and scoring many goals and he wanted to make an impression.”
Bowen first struck just after the half-hour mark, racing onto a Kurt Zouma flick-on to poke the ball into the net from close range. A long VAR check for a possible offside unsettled the nerves, but the goal was given, ending a run of 12 consecutive matches without finding the net for Bowen.
“This is great anticipation, what you want from a goal scorer, expecting it to bounce in the box and I love the fact he is in a position centrally, not stuck out right feeling sorry for himself,” Murphy said on Bowen’s first goal.
It didn’t take long for the winger to add another. Bowen played a ball down the line for Michail Antonio to latch onto, who beat James Tarkowski to open up space for the cross that Bowen fired in from six yards out to put the Hammers 2-0 up before half-time.
Murphy continued: “This one, good ball down the right hand side, he doesn’t admire it he gets himself into a dangerous area where he can affect the game and score a goal. [Amadou] Onana switches off, he’s got [Bowen] on his left shoulder, he let’s him go and that’s a great finish.
“That’s the Jarrod Bowen we saw last season. Scoring goals, I think he got 12 last season, now he’s up to four. But it was the sharpness with and without the ball, everything, he had good awareness.
“This is without the ball, we know David Moyes likes this, anticipating a poor touch from Idrissa Gueye. It’s that sharpness in his game that has been missing we haven’t seen.
“Of course he wanted his hat-trick. He stays strong, takes it on his right foot, his weaker one, but it’s a brilliant tackle [from Conor Coady] and he was just deprived of his hat-trick, but best performance I’ve seen from him in a while and it will give him a huge confidence boost now into the next few games.
“Most touches in the [Everton] box, but his all round game was really good and he was the difference between the two.”
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