Jarrod Bowen says West Ham's relegation fight hurts him more than anyone as the club prepares to host Wolves on Friday night at 8pm. West Ham can climb out of the bottom three with a win.
Bowen, who has spent more than six years at the London Stadium, said the club must win and take the initiative to get three points. West Ham are one point adrift of safety with seven games remaining and are trying to keep the club in the Premier League for a 15th consecutive season.
For Bowen, the stakes are personal as well as collective. He has scored 84 goals in 273 appearances for West Ham and has been through three European campaigns, including the Conference League title win, but he said the battle at the bottom weighs on him most because of what the club means to him. “It would mean the world,” he said of staying up.
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The urgency is sharpened by what happened earlier in the season at Molineux. Wolves beat West Ham 3-0 there, a result that gave Wolves their first victory of the season in 20 games and triggered anger from the travelling support, who chanted “You're not fit to wear the shirt” at the players after the defeat. Bowen was held back at full-time as he tried to confront supporters.
That is the backdrop to Friday's match, and West Ham have little room to absorb it as a distant memory. Bowen said the team were “really, really poor” that day and added that Wolves have looked like a different side since Robert Edwards arrived, despite being bottom of the league. He also said West Ham cannot wait for other results and must control their own points.
The contrast with West Ham's season has been jarring. They lost their FA Cup quarter-final to Leeds on penalties after scoring twice in stoppage time to force extra time, but league points now carry the greater weight. A victory over Wolves would lift them out of the relegation zone before the other teams play, and Bowen said that is exactly the chance they must seize on Friday night.
