A warning to Scott Parker; West Ham United captain Jarrod Bowen has frustrations to fix and grievances to air when Burnley arrive at the London Stadium.
And Martin Dubravka, as excellent as he has been between the sticks for the Clarets this season, may have his work cut out in the capital.
Jarrod Bowen has gone six games without a goal for club and country. For a forward of his relentless consistency, this is something of a drought. Parched but as persistent as ever, do not be surprised if the West Ham United skipper picks tomorrow’s 3pm kick-off as the moment when the goals start raining down once again.
As Nuno Espirito Santo pointed out during his pre-match press conference, Bowen came within a whisker against Newcastle last time out. A thumping hit rebounded fiercely off the bar while the visitors stormed down the other end and opened the scoring through a Jacob Murphy daisy-cutter.
Bowen would suffer from deja vu a few days later at Rush Green.
Jarrod Bowen will be desperate to end mini West Ham United drought against Burnley
While going head-to-head with the likes of Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville in a playful shooting drill, the England international saw another effort hit an almost identical part of the goal frame.
“It’s exactly the same as the other day, mate!” Bowen howled while bursting the eardrums of a nearby Guido Rodriguez.
“Exactly the same as the [Newcastle] game!”
The last time Bowen went four games without a goal in the Premier League, he responded with six in his next eight. He would follow up a seven-match dry spell in 2023/24, meanwhile, with an emphatic hat-trick against Brentford.
Pray for Burnley, then. Dubravka, in particular, will be hoping for a slice of divine intervention.
Bowen has a score to settle with the goal frame, and a West Ham record to make his own. He remains nine shy of Michail Antonio in the club’s all-time Premier League goalscoring charts.
“Football is like that. You can be punished, but you have to react [to setbacks],” Nuno said after the Hammers responded to Murphy’s early, against-the-run-of-play opener with three goals of their own.
“You cannot put your head down and think the game is over. Even when we conceded, it came from a really nice move when we hit the [post] with Jarrod.
“The reaction was positive. As I see it, this is the best thing that has happened to us, the way we reacted against adversity.
“I think we competed really well.”
Callum Wilson and Niclas Fullkrug injuries give Nuno Espirito Santo a headache
In a major blow for Nuno, Hammers News can confirm that Callum Wilson is a doubt for that Burnley clash. Nuno is without Niclas Fullkrug already, meaning that young Callum Marshall may be his only natural centre-forward option this weekend.
Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and even Tomas Soucek have experience moonlighting as a number nine, of course. Soucek even scored the stoppage time clincher against Newcastle from a more advanced role than he is used to.
But removing Bowen or Paqueta from their favoured roles threatens to deny West Ham the creativity they need to funnel the ball into the final third in the first place. Soucek would, at least, provide more of a physical outlet through the centre.
Marshall, on the other hand, offers real pace, a tremendous work ethic, and the ability to press from the front, albeit he is yet to open his top-flight account.
Nuno talked up Marshall’s talents after handing the Northern Ireland international his Premier League bow off the bench in October’s 2-0 defeat by Arsenal.
“What I have been seeing in training sessions, [Marshall has] energy, he is a good finisher, has good mobility, he can realise the gaps in the space,” the head coach said.
“He has a good chance up against [Arsenal’s] strong centre-half and he managed to get the header.”
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