Credit: Imago

Samuel Fabre

Mon 23 March 2026 10:55, UK

Jarrod Bowen won’t be pleased with how he played in West Ham United‘s 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.

This has been an incredibly poor campaign for the Hammers, but Bowen has been phenomenal at times, and it’s safe to say that they would have no hope of staying in the top flight without their captain.

Despite registering 14 goal contributions this season, the England international has cut a forlorn figure at times, and it’s clear that if Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were to drop down to the Championship, then his spell in E20 would be over.

West Ham’s loss to Aston Villa was damaging to their survival hopes, and it’s safe to say that Bowen’s performance was completely uncharacteristic.

Jarrod Bowen delivers dreadful performance vs Aston Villa

Bowen has completed 46 successful dribbles in the top flight this season, which is 95 per cent higher than all other right wingers in the division.

However, he found it incredibly tough against Aston Villa left-back Lucas Digne, who did brilliantly to stop him from performing.

According to Sofascore, the 29-year-old completed only one of his three attempted dribbles and failed to have a shot on target.

Bowen also won zero per cent of his aerial duels and 29 per cent of his ground duels, which simply isn’t good enough in a game that the Hammers had to avoid defeat.

With six inaccurate crosses and only two touches in the opposition box, it was an afternoon to forget for the winger, and he’ll need to bounce back quickly from this performance when the Hammers return to action after the international break.

Bowen has been a standout for West Ham, and it would be unfair to say that he can’t afford to have a bad game after everything he’s done for the club.

However, he’ll definitely be disappointed with himself, as the Hammers could have moved out of the relegation zone for the first time since November with a win.

Bowen will go down as one of West Ham’s modern-day legends

Whenever Bowen does leave the London Stadium, it will certainly be a sad day for West Ham.

Even if you discount his goal against Fiorentina in that memorable final, he has scored 83 goals for the Hammers in all competitions, which is incredibly impressive.

Bowen has also registered 108 goal contributions in the Premier League and sits eighth on the Irons’ all-time top scorers list.

Having helped West Ham to back-to-back top-seven finishes between 2020 and 2022, Bowen has a completely different task on his hands this season, although keeping West Ham afloat could mean a whole lot more to his legacy in E20.

He’ll need to perform much better during the last seven games of the campaign, but if he does so, then the Hammers should feel confident of extending their 13-year stay in the top flight.