Jarrod Bowen remains a doubt for West Ham United this weekend after missing the Hammers’ past two Premier League outings.
With the aid of a painkilling infection, the England winger was able to get through 90 minutes against Bayer Leverkusen in West Ham’s Europa League quarter-final second leg in between those two league games – an effort that proved to be in vain as Xabi Alonso’s side emerged as winners on aggregate.
David Moyes has been unable or unwilling to risk Bowen in the league, though, with the 19-goal forward left out of the squad for West Ham’s two-goal defeat to Fulham and 2-5 loss to Crystal Palace either side of that Leverkusen encounter.
West Ham have badly missed Jarrod Bowen
Moyes will welcome the return of his star player (Image credit: Getty Images)
Liverpool are next up on the agenda in Saturday’s 12:30pm kick-off, and Moyes will be hopeful of having Bowen back available for selection alongside goalkeeper Alphonse Areola – but it may ultimately be beyond his control again.
Bowen reportedly picked up a knee injury against Wolves earlier this month but was kept out of the Crystal Palace game with a back issue.
West Ham badly missed Bowen’s influence and creativity as they were able to carve out just four shots against Palace, who have hit a rich vein of form in recent weeks.
French international Areola has meanwhile been ruled out with a groin injury he sustained while kicking the ball against Newcastle United in March. Lukasz Fabianski has filled in for Areola throughout his absence.
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2023 Conference League winners West Ham sit eighth in the table and may now miss out on another opportunity to have a run in Europe next season after winning just one of their past seven league games.
