Jarrod Bowen and Bukayo Saka have long been at the centre of a debate which has raged between West Ham and Arsenal fans.
There is no love lost between West Ham and Arsenal nowadays.
Traditionally there is no great rivalry between the Hammers and the Gunners.
But things have changed since Declan Rice pushed to leave West Ham for Arsenal.
The rivalry has further intensified by virtue of the fact the Hammers have inflicted damaging results to end Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes three seasons in a row.
The latest of those came last weekend when Jarrod Bowen scored to give West Ham a deserved 1-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates.
Bowen’s England counterpart Bukayo Saka wasn’t playing having spent the last few months out injured.
Hammers and Gunners so reliant on Bowen and Saka
In Saka’s absence, Bowen has been showing new England boss Thomas Tuchel he has plenty of options.
One thing has become abundantly clear this season, if it wasn’t already.
Both West Ham and Arsenal are hugely reliant on Bowen and Saka respectively. Perhaps even over-reliant.
There has been a ridiculous debate on a podcast hosted by ex footballer Ben Foster this week that Arsenal should have signed Bowen to fill in for Saka.
Saka has been lauded for his performances for Arsenal since he emerged as one of the top talents in the country. And rightly so.
But Bowen has had to fight to convince people he is on the same level as the likes of Saka.
Bowen vs Saka debate settled for West Ham and Arsenal fans
There is no debating that anymore.
Besides scoring the goal that ended West Ham’s 43-year major trophy drought, Bowen has been a talisman in every sense of the word.
His goal and assist record has always stood up alongside Saka’s.
Now a new revelation settles the debate whether West Ham star Bowen is better than Arsenal’s Saka.
Official Premier League statistics show Bowen and Saka’s numbers across the board are remarkably similar.
Bowen has made 189 Premier League appearances to Saka’s 186.
The Hammers captain has 50 goals to Saka’s 52, despite the latter playing in a much more dominant and better side.
Both players have had exactly the same number of shots on target as one another with 142. Bowen’s shooting accuracy is 56.8% compared to Saka’s 55.2%.
Bowen has 34 assists to Saka’s 45.
Both have scored the same number of goals inside the box – 47. West Ham’s best player has eight headed goals to Saka’s two.
Bowen above Saka in Premier League top five
So the two stars are very even across all categories.
But which player has the biggest impact on the most important statistic of all – points for their team?
Saka was playing in the top flight a season and a half before Bowen was signed by West Ham.
Bowen only came into the Premier League halfway through Hale End academy graduate Saka’s proper breakthrough campaign.
Yet Sky Sports has revealed that only three players have won more points for their club with their goals and assists than Bowen has for West Ham since January 2020.
Remarkably Bowen and Saka have both directly earned West Ham and Arsenal 66 points each.
Bowen is fourth on the list ahead of fifth-placed Saka.
Only Heung-min Son of Spurs (69), Man United’s Bruno Fernandes (76) and Liverpool great Mohamed Salah (120) are above Bowen and Saka.
Given Saka had an 18-month headstart on Bowen to acclimatise to the Premier League, West Ham’s main man is arguably marginally the more effective player.
Bowen has 13 less goals and assists than Saka overall, showing he is the more decisive player with his contributions.
It blows suggestions Saka is better than Bowen out of the water.
And it should make interesting ready for Tuchel too.
Salah is clearly at another level altogether in terms of his statistics.
But Bowen is doing West Ham proud and these stats will silence those Gunners fans who have dismissed him as an equal to their star boy.
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