Jamie Carragher has explained why he thinks West Ham star Jarrod Bowen has been better than Man City’s Erling Haaland.
We are in an age of YouTube football pundits, many of whom seem to know very little about the game or teams outside the so-called “Big Six” of Man City and co.
Manchester City’s glittering array of talent is – justifiably – lauded by all and sundry but the likes of West Ham and their stars are often overlooked or underappreciated.
So it is refreshing to see one of the top pundits in the game reversing that trend.
Given West Ham’s season so far, David Moyes’ side has several contenders for the Premier League team of the season at the halfway stage.
Carragher explains why Bowen has been better than Haaland
Man City have suffered something of a blip of late by their high standards, but remain right in the hunt for the title.
As we reported earlier, Sky Sports duo Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have both named Hammers top goalscorer Jarrod Bowen in their teams of the season so far.
And Carragher has explained why West Ham star Bowen has been better than Man City’s Erling Haaland.
Neville put Bowen up front alongside Man City star Haaland in a rather unrealistic front four.
But in Carragher’s case he actually picked Bowen ahead of Man City’s striking viking.
‘Bowen deserved to go in’
Haaland has scored 14 goals and laid on four assists in 15 Premier League games for Man City this season.
But three of those have been penalties – leaving Bowen and Haaland level on 11 in terms of non-penalty goals while the West Ham man has two assists.
That and scoring so consistently across all games – and away from home – were the key reasons Carragher picked West Ham’s main man over Man City’s.
Carragher named Man City star Bernardo Silva in his midfield. But he has selected Bowen as his forward with Mo Salah and Son Heung-min either side.
Carragher said: “The football teams play now is 433, so one striker has to go in. Now Haaland’s been injured of late, yes he’s the top scorer but he plays for Man City. Yes he’s the best striker by a mile but I felt that Bowen deserved to go in for the fact that he’s scored in 11 games this season, he’s played 18. And seven goals away from home. So when you’re talking about strikers – I was looking at Dominic Solanke and (Ollie) Watkins but I think both of them got a hat-trick in a game and didn’t score in as many games as Bowen. And to score in seven games away from home, I think is pretty special as a striker.”
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