West Ham 26-year-old is set to play in completely different position vs Arsenal, and he’ll be absolutely vital.
The Hammers travel to the Emirates to take on Arsenal when Premier League football resumes on Boxing Day.
It’s an absolutely huge game for both sides, but for very different reasons.
The Hammers are sitting in 16th spot in the Premier League table, just one point clear of the relegation places. Meanwhile, the Gunners are sitting pretty at the top of the tree, five points clear of second placed Manchester City.
David Moyes and Mikel Arteta will both be desperate for all three points, that goes without saying. Unfortunately for the Hammers, we could be without our only two strikers – Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio for the clash Arsenal clash.
And it seems as though Jarrod Bowen could be set to deputise through the middle for the Hammers…
Bowen set for striker role for West Ham vs Arsenal
The ex-Hull City man, who turned 26 today, will have a big role to play for the Hammers at the Emirates on Boxing Day.
Bowen will most likely operate through the middle as an auxiliary centre-forward.
In order for that to work, he will obviously have to put in a real shift, but it will also be vital for Moyes to instruct his wide attackers to play slightly more narrow, so they are in and around Bowen and able to hurt Arsenal.
Bowen has played through the middle as a striker for West Ham before of course, but only on 19 occasions during his three-year spell in East London (Transfermarkt).
The 26-year-old’s tight ball control and willingness to run in behind will obviously present the Arsenal back-line with an entirely different problem to what Scamacca would have done.
He has been really poor for the Hammers during the first few months of the season in my opinion.
And surely many would agree. He has just five goals and zero assists to his name in 21 games for West Ham so far this season, with only two of those coming in the Premier League (Transfermarkt).
The West Ham star has a big chance to change all of that vs Arsenal. Hopefully he’s up to the task, despite the fact that he won’t be playing in his best and most natural position.
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