If West Ham United skipper Jarrod Bowen scores against Chelsea on Saturday, don’t expect a usual celebration from the star forward.
Bowen will lead the Hammers in a London derby – LIVE on talkSPORT – as they look to secure their second win of the season.
One celebrity who will be in attendance at the London Stadium on Saturday is Chesney Hawkes – the 1990s one-hit-wonder icon behind the smash hit ‘The One and Only’.
Hawkes is a passionate Hammers fan and caught the bug when he sat in the away section at White Hart Lane with close family friends in a game against Tottenham
“We lost 5-0,” Hawkes told talkSPORT with a laugh.
“All the West Ham fans are doing the hokey cokey up and down the aisle. I was like, ‘Alright, these are my people’. Even at nine years old, I knew that.”
Hawkes fell in love with several players who donned the claret and blue over the years, including Paolo Di Canio, Carlos Tevez, Frank McAvennie, Tony Cottee, Alan Devonshire, Alvin Martin and Billy Bonds.
But Bowen may rocket himself to top spot in Hawkes’ favourite Hammers based on a bold agreement from the England international.
“I got a promise from Jarrod Bowen,” Hawkes said.
“If he scores a goal, he’s going to run to the corner flag, grab it like a microphone, and sing his best, ‘The One and Only.'”
Bowen, or Hawkes for that matter, won’t care if the forward scores the one and only goal of the match, so long as the Hammers win.
Should West Ham beat Chelsea, it would bring Julen Lopetegui‘s side equal on points with the Blues after five matches.
Although it’s early in the season, Lopetegui has plenty of work to do to steer West Ham to similar league finishes to that of his predecessor, David Moyes.
Moyes began his second spell with the Hammers in the 2019/20 campaign and steered them to safety.
West Ham finished sixth and seventh in the following two seasons before they dropped to 14th, but won the Europa Conference League that campaign, ending a 43-year wait for silverware.
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Moyes secured a ninth-place finish before he departed at the end of last season, which coincided with the end of his contract.
Although the Hammers may have got off to a slow start this term, Hawkes believed it was ‘too early to say’ if the team was missing Moyes.
“I was down at Rush Green [West Ham’s training ground] a couple of days ago and everyone was saying how much they love him and how he brought the squad together,” Hawkes said.
“Jarrod Bowen speaks very highly of him. I just think we’ve got to give him [Lopetegui] time. He’s got a whole load of new players in and it takes a while to settle in, doesn’t it?
“We’re already seeing little glimpses of it really coming together and I think it’s going to come together on Saturday.”
West Ham’s clash against Chelsea kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday – with LIVE and EXCLUSIVE commentary of the all-London clash on talkSPORT.
