West Ham United forward Jarrod Bowen hit the headlines on Sunday night, after scoring his first goal for England.
Attention turns back to domestic action this weekend though, and Jarrod Bowen needs to fully focus on leading his West Ham side back towards contention for the European places.
The good news for the Hammers and Julen Lopetegui is that Bowen’s goal for England should give him a huge confidence boost heading into the vital run of fixtures ahead of us.
The 27-year-old is the most consistent player we have at the London Stadium – he rarely delivers a performance worse than a 6.5/10.
However, it’s fair to say that he hasn’t been anywhere near his best for West Ham so far this season.
Hopefully we’ll see the best of Bowen between now and the end of the season.
We certainly need him firing on all cylinders for the Christmas period – a time of the season the Hammers ace clearly loves.
Jarrod Bowen makes big West Ham vs Southampton claim
Following our games against Newcastle and Arsenal, the Hammers face a five-game run that could yield a huge points return, if we’re at our best.
West Ham face clashes with Leicester City, Wolves, Bournemouth, Brighton and Southampton from December 3rd up until Boxing Day.
We should be looking at a bare minimum of 10 points from those games.
When speaking to WHUFC.com, Bowen opened up on his love of the festive period, although he seems to have his wires crossed regarding our clash with Southampton at St Mary’s on December 26th.
“I think the festive period is always a special time for people and a celebration, especially with the football and the schedule“, Bowen said. “For me, I’ve always been one that absolutely loves Christmas, and I’m really close to my family and have quite a big extended family as well, so it’s a day of celebration where everyone can get together and enjoy spending time together.
“It’s one of the busiest periods of the year, but for me, I love playing football, and I think it’s even better at Christmas because I grew up being a football fan, and I was always excited for that game on Boxing Day and the games just before and after Christmas,” Bowen explained.
“Every manager has different preferences. Some managers want players to train in the morning, and some want to train in the afternoon, while there are some who give you the day off and just play on Boxing Day. I think this year is the first time in my career that we’ve played away on Boxing Day, as I’ve always been quite lucky to be playing at home, so you’re able to stay at home the night before.
“It’ll be a different experience for me, but it’s one of those things where you’re in a very privileged position as a professional football player, so you always have to take a step back, look at what you are doing and realise that it’s worth it, even though the sacrifices are hard. I think that makes it even more special to be able to spend those extra few hours together on Christmas Day with your family.“
Bowen seems to be mistaken here.
Since he’s been with West Ham, we have had just one game at home on Boxing Day, when we welcomed Southampton to the London Stadium in 2021.
The only thing I can think that Bowen is referring to is the fact that our away games on Boxing Day have been in London, with trips to Arsenal.
The trip down to the south coast to take on Southampton this year obviously has more travel time attached to it.
Hopefully we win the game, but West Ham skipper Jarrod Bowen has already suggested that he might be missing home on Boxing Day.
Not a great mentality to have for an elite level footballer if you ask me.
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