Having watched Ollie Watkins’s lunchtime hat-trick at Villa Park, Gareth Southgate may well have had his fill of friendly reminders ahead of announcing his latest England squad this coming Thursday. But were the Three Lions manager in the mood for just one more, he need have looked no further than the London Stadium, where Jarrod Bowen continued his superb start to the campaign to set West Ham on their way to the most routine of 2-0 wins over a desperate Sheffield United.
Bowen’s opening goal in this game was his fifth in seven Premier League games this season, his first at home after a run of four in as many away games, and it accomplished the not particularly difficult task of breaking the visitor’s side’s meager early resolve after they were trounced 8-0 by Newcastle last week.
Although David Moyes argued on Friday that it was too soon to dismiss any of the newly promoted teams as doomed to the bottom, his forgiving assessment of the Blades’ early-season troubles must have been put to the test by their performance today.
It is not only Bowen who looks back to his best. Vladimir Coufal has emerged from his summer break four years younger and laid on the opener here for a third assist in as many league matches, having managed just one last season. Soucek, scorer in successive midweeks in cup action, added a first League goal of the campaign to already match his all-competitions tally for the entirety of last term.
Bizarrely, having seen his side concede eight at home on Sunday, Paul Heckingbottom had made only one change, with forward Ollie McBurnie brought back in after suspension. But if the gamble had been in offering the same set of players the chance to make some amends for their Newcastle humiliation, it backfired spectacularly. The visitors were hesitant in their rare attacks, and largely hapless at the back, allergic to every second-ball.
was nIt ot surprising that James Ward-Prowse’s corners created early issues, with Wes Foderingham palming out Bowen’s header before Nayef Aguerd’s follow-up was headed clear of the line. Newcastle had highlighted the Blades’ set-piece frailty.
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