West Ham United captain Jarrod Bowen hopes the 2-0 Premier League win over Newcastle United represented the turning point in his side's campaign, and he outlined the players' determination to maintain their momentum ahead of a packed festive period.
Following Monday night’s success at St James’ Park, the Hammers make a swift return to top-flight action in the Saturday tea-time kick-off, looking to make it back-to-back wins, and boost their current 14th-place standing, when north London rivals Arsenal visit London Stadium.
Bowen’s assist for Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s first West Ham goal in the North-East marked another significant career milestone, taking his goal involvements total to 79 in the Premier League for the Irons - one more than Paolo Di Canio and third overall behind Michail Antonio (101) and Mark Noble (82).
With the team now closer - in terms of points - to the European spots than the relegation zone, Bowen says he is under no illusions about the task ahead against the title-chasing Gunners, but our No20 has called for his teammates to build on arguably their best performance of the season, find some more consistency and channel the spirit of the two famous victories over Mikel Arteta’s side last season.
“We have a massive game on Saturday against Arsenal, and we need to be consistently winning games on the bounce," said Bowen. “We know it’s going to be a difficult game as they’re a top side, but we can take a lot away from the Newcastle game, and we’re at home, so we can use that to our advantage with our fans and put in another strong performance.
“That [Newcastle win] was more like the level of what it takes to play for this Club. The desire and work-rate from everyone was excellent, and a clean sheet away at Newcastle is not an easy thing to achieve.
“It was a really big moment, and the result is a really big turning point in our season. Now, there are lots of games coming up every few days throughout the festive period, so there are plenty of opportunities to pick up points and shoot ourselves up the Premier League table.
“We have been disappointed with our start. We have to take responsibility and do our work, and we haven't done that to a high enough ability this season. I said before the game on Monday we needed a performance, and I think we did that, and we will be looking for another on Saturday.”
Off the back of major change throughout the summer, Bowen acknowledges that everyone has taken some time to adjust to the new set-up under Julen Lopetegui, but remains upbeat about how the team is progressing and believes they can reward the Claret and Blue faithful with further memories throughout the season in their quest to secure an instant return to European football.
“I wouldn’t say it [confidence] is lacking because the group we have is so good, and there is a real togetherness. It's down to me to show the new players what it means to play for this Club,” said Bowen.
“On Monday, every player on the pitch understood the assignment. The fans deserve huge credit for coming up to Newcastle on a Monday night in the numbers that they did, and we need to give them more moments. That performance was more like us, but we have to build on this and meet those expectations and standards.
“I think we should be pushing for European football every year. We had three years of it, and those are the standards and demands of this Club.
“The team has been improved, and those are our standards and what we feel like we can get to. We’ve got a very good side, a very good manager and a hard-working side that want to achieve things.
"We haven't been to those levels, but it is not for the want of trying. Qualifying for Europe should be the benchmark.”
