Jarrod Bowen the example as Tony Cascarino tells West Ham what they 'need to do'

West Ham need to find a way of stretching teams in the same way their captain Jarrod Bowen is so good at, Tony Cascarino has said.

Speaking on talkSPORT (28 December, 7:38am), Cascarino praised Bowen's ability to "find a way" of scoring goals after the England forward netted the winner in the Irons' 1-0 victory at Southampton.

Of the six Premier League games Julian Lopetegui's side have won this term, Bowen has scored in five, either netting the decisive goal or one to rubber-stamp the three points on four occasions thus far.

Cascarino said: "There's something about Jarrod Bowen – always he seems to find a way of getting goals.

"He's not a centre-forward, you can clearly see that, but when used in that position he stretches teams, and it's something that West Ham need to do.

"(Michail) Antonio, that was his thing that he did so often when he played in that position."

Jarrod Bowen continues to be the shining light at West Ham

The statistics reflect the eye test where the Hammers are concerned this season, with Bowen head and shoulders above the rest and stepping up to the plate in Michail Antonio's continued absence up front.

Signing Niclas Fullkrug was initially the plan to ease the burden on Antonio's shoulders in East London, and his assist for Bowen's winner at St. Mary's suggests the German could finally be pulling his weight.

Up until that point, however, the responsibility has fallen to Bowen – appointed as club captain prior to this season – to dig the Hammers out of many a hole, and he's done just that with very little fuss.

It almost doesn't bare thinking about the heights that Lopetegui's new-look squad would be hitting had the likes of Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus been playing at a level even close to Bowen's so far.

With 20 matches still to come though – including runaway leaders Liverpool up next – the onus is now on Lopetegui and the rest of the side to show they can follow Bowen's lead for the rest of the campaign.

In other West Ham news, Lopetegui is ‘not optimistic’ over the availability of a key defender against Liverpool on Sunday.

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