McAvennie delighted with strength in depth at West Ham, admits Bowen ‘has a challenge’
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie claims Jarrod Bowen needs to work hard to play his way back into the West Ham starting line-up but believes he could be just one good performance away from doing that.
Bowen, 24, has unfortunately suffered since the arrival of Jesse Lingard at the London Stadium in the January transfer window with the ex-Hull forward starting just three of six Premier League matches since Manchester United loanee made his debut versus Aston Villa.
However, Bowen is likely to return to David Moyes’ starting line-up on Sunday as Lingard is ineligible to play against Man United at Old Trafford.
McAvennie is thrilled by the strength in depth currently on show at the London Stadium with players like Bowen fighting for a spot in Moyes’s starting 11.
With a big opportunity to impress coming up this weekend, McAvennie is eager to see if Bowen can seize it.
“He needs to get his head down and get back in because he’s a talented player,” the ex-Hammers striker told West Ham Zone.
“Everyone thought [Pablo] Fornals was going to be the one who was left out for Lingard – I thought it as well. But it just shows you that David isn’t frightened to change it.
“They’ve got Ryan Fredericks pushing for a place on the right-hand side as well. David’s very clever, we saw it against Aston Villa when Fredericks and [Vladimir] Coufal played on the right-hand side, they doubled up on Jack Grealish. They decided he made that team tick and just shut him out – that was brilliant to watch.
“Bowen has a challenge now. If he gets back in and plays well then he’ll keep the starting spot.
“There’s a fight for places at West Ham now which is so good. There have been so many times in the past where I’ve thought, ‘they’re not good enough, they’re not good enough, he shouldn’t be playing’.
“Now they’ve got players there who can fit in seamlessly.
“They’ve got a few boys and a few youngsters fighting for positions and that’s a great thing for West Ham.”
Bowen has been in good form for West Ham this season, scoring five goals and supplying three assists in 29 appearances across all competitions.
However, he hasn’t been directly involved in a league goal since an assist against Crystal Palace on January 26 with Lingard scoring four times and assisting twice since his debut against Villa on February February 3.
Lingard’s clearly taken the mantle in West Ham’s attacking midfield area but without him available on Sunday, there’s a huge opportunity for Bowen to show Moyes he can remain among the goals for the Irons.
In other West Ham news, Vladimir Coufal has solved a 20-year long issue at the Hammers.