Julen Lopetegui’s side battled to victory over Wolves
Quite what this victory means for Julen Lopetegui will become clear in the coming days.
If the West Ham board had already made their decision and Monday night’s 2-1 win over Wolves was always going to be his final outing as Hammers boss, his side produced a fine send-off for the Spaniard.
But if it was not yet a case of decision made, then Jarrod Bowen’s powerful curling effort into the far corner will come to be known as the goal that kept Lopetegui in his job.
This visit of his former team had been dubbed ‘El Sackico’ — a win-or-you’re-fired affair for Lopetegui and Wolves manager Gary O’Neil, similarly on the brink.
Under this context, it was always going to be a nervy, fraught affair. It became not about performance (and just as well), but about getting the result. Cutting inside Goncalo Guedes and then bending the winner into the corner, Bowen took the match by the scruff of the neck.
His celebration felt as important as the goal. The England player held aloft a West Ham shirt that read ‘Antonio 9’ — a tribute to his team-mate Michail Antonio, the club's all-time Premier League top scorer, who may not play again after needing surgery on a lower limb fracture following a car accident on Saturday afternoon.
Jarrod Bowen marked his winning goal by holding up a Michail Antonio shirt
Action Images via Reuters
Every West Ham player’s shirt from the game will be signed by the whole squad, including Antonio, and auctioned off to raise money for the NHS and the Air Ambulance UK charity. The club will match the proceeds raised.
Antonio was watching on from his hospital bed as his side played out a goalless first half which they just about edged, but the Hammers were much improved after the interval. In truth, the whole game was.
Was it because of half-time words delivered by an under-pressure Lopetegui? Whatever the reason, West Ham looked roused. Tomas Soucek netted a looping header from Bowen’s corner to give them the lead, and only VAR and the ever-so-slightly premature run from Mohammed Kudus before tapping home stopped them going 2-0 up.
The excellent equaliser powered home soon after by Matt Doherty demonstrated the wafer-thin margins of a match of this magnitude. O’Neil was punching the air in delight.
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The final say would be West Ham’s, though, as Bowen curled the winner past Sam Johnstone just seconds after Wolves rightly had a penalty appeal checked and cleared by VAR.
Fine margins in this game, and in the league table too. West Ham, in 14th place, are just seven points off the top five.