Eddie Howe pre-West Ham press conference
West Ham v Newcastle United: Jarrod Bowen has sent a strong message to his West Ham teammates ahead of their clash with Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United.
The Hammers enter today’s game sat second bottom of the Premier League table having taken just four points from their nine matches. Those four points have constituted just one win, coming against Nuno Espirito Santo’s Nottingham Forest back in August.
Espirito Santo is now in the Hammers dugout, but has overseen three defeats and just one draw from his four matches in charge. Newcastle United, meanwhile, have won three matches in a row in all competitions and are unbeaten at the London Stadium on their last six visits.
Jarrod Bowen issues strong West Ham message
Writing in his captain’s programme notes ahead of today’s game, Bowen made the stark admission that he and his side are ‘in trouble’ in the league and has issued a rallying cry to his teammates to improve their standing: ‘When things aren’t going so well, it’s easy to hide and be scared almost but we have to dig in, because no-one is going to give this to us. That’s the only way. That’s the only mindset,’ Bowen wrote.
‘This is the Premier League and we need to really pull our fingers out now, because we’re in a real situation and I think we have to face the reality of that. The sooner that starts hitting home to everyone the better, and it needs to change.
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‘We have to face up to the reality of where we are, which is second bottom. We’re in trouble now. We have to accept that, but we all have to go out and fight as a team and get out of trouble.
‘The Premier League is the hardest league and over many years we’ve won games where we’ve not played great, but we’ve got results. We’re not doing that now. We’re not playing well and we’re not getting results, so we need to change it and we’re the ones as players that can change it.
‘We’ve spoken as a group but, ultimately, it’s down to actions. It’s got to come from within and we’ve all got to have that hunger and drive inside, which I think the players do have, but I think the table shows that we can show a lot more hunger and drive.’
Eddie Howe has named six changes for today’s game from the starting XI that began their win over Spurs in midweek. Emil Krafth, Malick Thiaw, Dan Burn, Sandro Tonali and Nick Woltemade are the players to keep their place in the team.
Kieran Trippier misses out entirely through illness. Lewis Hall, meanwhile, has returned to the bench after missing their last five games in all competitions.
Former Magpies striker Callum Wilson will start for the Hammers against his old employers for the first time since leaving Tyneside as a free agent earlier this summer. Wilson will be flanked by Bowen and former Leeds United winger Crysencio Summerville.
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