West Ham United captain Jarrod Bowen believes the club avoiding relegation from the Premier League would mean more than winning the UEFA Conference League in 2023.
Following West Ham’s 2-1 win against Everton on Saturday, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are 17th and two points above Tottenham Hotspur, and three points adrift of 16th-placed Nottingham Forest on 39 points. West Ham have yielded seven points from a possible nine in their last three league fixtures against Everton, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Since January 17, the east London side have amassed 22 points, the sixth highest in the league.
Bowen, 29, has been key to West Ham’s revival, having registered 10 goals and 11 assists across 38 appearances. The winger memorably scored the winner in the Conference League victory against Fiorentina in Prague, Czech Republic. But the England international believes West Ham retaining their top-flight status would surpass that achievement.
“I think it would because of the circumstances, the season it’s been the pressure that being captain brings,” Bowen told The Athletic following the victory against Everton. “Being captain is a massive honour but the situation that we’re in, it falls on your head and rightly so. I’ve been here a long time (since January 2020) and people look at me for answers.
“I’m trying to bring my A-game week in, week out. Has it always been like that every week? No but I’m not going to give up on this club, or on my team-mates. If I can help the team with goals and assists, I’ll do that. If not, three points is the most important thing.
“We’ve got good players here that have stepped up in really important moments. When I’m not going to play as well as I’d like, which can happen, it’s important that everyone else around you steps up. We’ve had goals and assists from different people, which is important.”
In recent weeks, Taty Castellanos, the January arrival from Lazio, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Tomas Soucek and Crysencio Summerville have eased the goalscoring burden on Bowen. Soucek scored the opener at the weekend, Mavropanos and Castellanos scored twice in the 4-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Summerville registered the solitary goal in the away win at Fulham.
Soucek scored the opener against Everton (Warren Little/Getty Images
Bowen received criticism from sections of the fanbase earlier this season about his role as captain, but the attacker is happy with how he has tried to inspire his team-mates.
“We’ve done a couple of team meetings and different things as a group,” he added. “When I was named captain (in August 2024), it was Julian Lopetegui. We’ve had two managers since then (Graham Potter and Nuno) and different personnel have come in. I’ve been here six years and I’ve had Nobes (Mark Noble), Dec (Declan Rice) and Kurt Zouma as captain.
“Seeing what they do, trying to take little things from that. Trying to keep the group together off the pitch, I think is really important. Players that we’ve brought in, trying to make them feel as comfortable. It’s trying to put my arm around them and help them settle in straight away.”
West Ham have four league games remaining to clinch safety. They have not played in the Championship since the 2011-12 season. Demotion to the second-tier could leave West Ham with a 75 per cent loss in their financial revenue, while the squad also has 50 per cent salary reduction clauses in their contracts in the event of relegation.
West Ham face Brentford on Saturday, who are ninth on 49 points and chasing European qualification.
“At the start of the season, we didn’t pick up as many results that we’d liked,” said Bowen. “But there’s a real spirit, a real togetherness, a change in mentality and we’ve become a tough side to play against. We Wolves beat them 4-0 at home, Palace went away, got a clean sheet, could have won that on another day.
“Today we conceded but the spirit to comeback from 1-1, not give in and to not fold and concede that second goal. Maybe a few months ago, that would have happened and we would’ve lost the game. But I think it goes to show you the team spirit that we’ve got right now and hopefully it stays that way.”