It took a while. West Ham United had endured a torrid six months. Dreadful news from car crashes, player injuries, dressing room bust-ups, losses on the pitch and want-away stars throwing hissy fits. The sick list mounted – Jarrod Bowen, Michail Antonio, Jean-Clair Todibo, Emerson Palmieri, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Alphonse Areola, Niclas Fullkrug, Crysencio Summerville : The growing list was a far cry from the contrast of just a few weeks ago when West Ham were bottom of the pile for player time absent injured.
The BBC’s ‘players injured league’ as per my article in December!
As I wrote it I wondered about tempting fate! How high up the table would West Ham would feature now, just a month later. The downside of a small squad of players who are one of the oldest in the Premier League I guess.
Graham Potter, however, speaking to the standard.co.uk yesterday, has signalled that there is better news on the way and that Hammers’ skipper and talisman Jarrod Bowen is surpassing all expectations in his recovery from the foot fracture he suffered against Liverpool:
“He was out jogging today with the individual physio, so it’s positive. I think if I’m looking at it now, Jarrod will be ahead of schedule rather than behind schedule. It’s not a rocket scientist prediction, that is it really…He’s doing everything he can to get on the pitch as soon as possible…he wants to be out there, he wants to play and we’re trying to pull the reins on him rather than the other way around. He’s fantastic to have around the place.”
Which is great news. After his fiancee revealed on social media that Bowen was running on the club’s gravity treadmill, knowing he is on grass now speculates that he will be back at the end of January or start of February: Match fitness will take a while but just when the club are in the midst of a striker crisis, it is good to know Bowen will be back sooner than expected. Hopefully just the start of the good news Hammers stories this January!
