Few would dispute that the electric talents of Jarrod Bowen merit the stage of a UEFA Europa League quarter-final.
Yet the 25-year-old might have feared he would be denied European knockout football this season, following a heel injury sustained against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday 5 March.
Bowen’s subsequent rehabilitation period ruled him out of the Hammers’ next four matches in all competitions, as well as ended any prospects of a first international call-up for Gareth Southgate’s England side.
And yet just as Bowen’s teammates bounced back in his absence to overcome Sevilla in the Europa League round of 16, the No20 picked up where he left off against Everton with an immediate show of intent.
No other English player surpasses the Hammer’s total of 17 Premier League goal involvements (nine goals, eight assists) in 2021/22 – including the match-winner against the Toffees at London Stadium.
Buoyed by the occasion, and relishing the prospect of facing French side Olympique Lyonnais in east London in a quarter-final first leg on Thursday, Bowen is back with a bang – all opposition, beware.
I’m buzzing for Thursday’s game against Olympique Lyonnais.
I was here for the Sevilla game, and as much as you’re loving the night, there’s that bit inside of you as a player that wants to be part of it on the pitch.
Unfortunately, it didn’t happen – injuries happen at probably the worst time – but the lads did brilliantly to get through, and now there’s another two legs.
Thursday night will be another special night, and then we’ll see where we go after that.
I think this where you want to be as a Club.
When I first came in, we were in a relegation battle. It was: “okay, this team’s far too good to be in a relegation battle, let’s stay up in the Premier League.”
Then lockdown happened, which gave us a bit of time away from football even though, as players, we didn’t want it – those were the circumstances we were under.
Then, we came back the following season and got into the Europa League. This season, we’re in the question for the top four, so it just shows how far we’ve come as a Club as a whole, and as a player you want to be at the clubs who are talking about the top four and being in the last few teams in European competitions.
I’ve been disappointed to be out for the last few weeks.
The only good thing was that with the international break there wasn’t as many games as I thought.
You look at the results when I wasn’t playing and the Sevilla game springs to mind, which was a great performance and a great win – the Villa game as well… so I wouldn’t say that I’m crucial to this team, because we’ve got other players that come in and do exactly the same.
Obviously, you want to be back out there playing, and against Everton I loved every minute of it.
Winning games of football is what we all want to do. We’ve got a lot of games coming up, and to keep that winning momentum and that confidence in the group is obviously good for everyone involved.
We’ve got a lot of games now coming up in a short space of time, so the main thing is to just keep winning every game.
When you’ve been injured and you’re doing all your rehab in the gym, you want to be playing.
To score the goal and win the Everton game was obviously a great way for me to come back.
Aaron Cresswell’s was a great strike. You’ve seen Cressy hit them before like that, and he came close again in the second half, but it was a great strike.
Then the togetherness of us when it went back level, and then to get the winner… Everton had ten men but they still had that threat and we grounded out the result, which was good for us.
For my goal, we pounced on a mistake and countered, which we’ve done so well over the last couple of years. Micky [Antonio] went through – he was amazing again – and was unlucky not to score, but obviously I was buzzing that the ‘keeper saved it and it dropped to my feet!
You’ve always got to be there, and one will drop if you keep getting into that position. Thankfully it did for me from six yards out, or wherever it was!
