Jarrod Bowen ‘surprise’ verdict emerges after West Ham United draw v Bournemouth
Simon Stone shared that he was surprised by the fact that Jarrod Bowen didn’t take the penalty for West Ham United in their 1-1 draw against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Monday.
Lucas Paqueta, fortunately, managed to bag the spot-kick after stepping up to take it and opened the scoring for the Hammers.
Writing for the BBC Sport website (17 December), BBC journalist Stone shared his thoughts on the performance that Bowen put in against Andoni Iraola’s men.
“Playing centrally, it was no surprise Bowen should come closest to opening the scoring for the visitors,” he wrote.
“After running onto Mohammed Kudus’ through ball, with no immediate support to help out, Bowen showed real intelligence, allowing Illia Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen to sprint past, creating the space from where his curling shot flicked off the top of the crossbar.
“Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross provided the opportunity to spin and unleash a shot Kepa Arrizabalaga proved the equal of, the former Chelsea keeper collecting at the second attempt.
“It was something of a surprise Bowen did not take the penalty when it eventually came West Ham’s way.”
Jarrod Bowen is now key to the future of Julen Lopetegui at West Ham United
After his consistent performances for several seasons, it obvious that Irons skipper Bowen would be the player that Julen Lopetegui would need to build his team around after he replaced David Moyes.
His versatile nature, alongside his keen eye for goal are just two of his assets that make him almost undroppable from the Spaniard’s starting XI.
The fact he can put in an equally impressive performance at right wing or at striker shows how much talent the former Hull City attacker possesses.
Lopetegui’s role at the London Stadium has been under some significant fire this term but thanks to his recent results, it feels like he’s once again safe for now.
At the moment, it feels like Bowen holds the key for the Hammers and if anything should happen to him whether that be getting ruled out due to injury or sold on, it would be a huge loss for this Hammers side who are so reliant on the skipper.
Only time will tell what the future holds but as the club’s captain, he seems to be relishing in his starring role.
In other West Ham news, Stefan Borson has shared whether the Hammers could afford to buy Marcus Rashford in the upcoming transfer windows.
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