Ahead of West Ham United’s Premier League fixture with AFC Bournemouth, Jarrod Bowen has The Last Word…
After the performance against Arsenal last weekend, it was important to get the fans excited again. And we did that in the second-half against KAA Gent. A 4-1 win. 5-2 on aggregate. We showed our A game and got the job done.
This season we have not been as free-flowing in attack as we wanted to be, but we can take a lot of confidence from the win on Thursday.
We have been creating a lot of chances in the last few games and started to show our quality again. I feel good too. Since the FIFA World Cup finals, I think I have been at a really high level. My basic game I feel happy with, and all I can do is keep doing what I am doing. To keep this Club in the division is the main focus, but we want to win a European trophy as well.
I think what’s really important is that we have won in different ways over the last weeks. We dug in to get the three points against Fulham and Southampton. And then, against Arsenal, we were more on the front foot and could have nicked a win at the end.
Of course, there are going to be games where you have to sit in, scrap, and be disciplined. Like at Fulham, it was a different kind of victory. But in other games we have really started to show our quality. And as we start to get into the business end of the season, it is important we continue the momentum.
The main thing was backing up the performance against Arsenal, which is why we are all so happy with the showing against Gent. We didn’t just what to show we turned up because it was Arsenal; we wanted to back it up in Europe. And now, we have to do that against AFC Bournemouth too.
We know how big Sunday’s match is. How important it is. It is a massive game for us and our season. We will go there and take confidence from our last games. We only lost once – to Newcastle – in our last nine fixtures and it is important to take that momentum to the south coast.
Of course, it has been disappointing in the league this season and we can’t shy or hide away from the position we are in in the league. The UEFA Europa Conference League is a massive chance for us to bring a trophy to these fans and also qualify for a place in the UEFA Europa League but there is work to be done in the Premier League.
The last two years have been full of progress, which is why it has been frustrating in the league this term. It hasn’t been what we wanted it to be. But we are still in Europe, still fighting against relegation, yes, but with the confidence from the last two weeks we can attack the end of the season.
You want to win every game you play. The main message from us is keep trying to do the right things. And let’s hope that continues on Sunday.
