West Ham United vs Sheffield United. Premier League.
London StadiumAttendance62,459.
Match report and highlights as goals from Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek give seventh-placed West Ham a 2-0 win over struggling Sheff Utd; Blades have taken only one point from seven games and Paul Heckingbottom is under pressure
Saturday 30 September 2023 21:47, UK
David Moyes insisted Jarrod Bowen is "closer than ever" to an England call-up after his fifth goal of the season helped West Ham claim a 2-0 win over strugglers Sheffield United.
Bowen finished coolly from Vladimir Coufal's cut-back to make it five goals from seven Premier League games and boost his chances of an international recall when Gareth Southgate names his squad for the upcoming meetings with Australia and Italy.
"Gareth is a great judge and he will know what players are right but I would say Jarrod Bowen is as close now as he has ever been," said Moyes afterwards. "He's in really good form, quick, sharp. He looks like he can do a lot of things at the moment."
Tomas Soucek slotted home West Ham's second in a one-sided first half at the London Stadium and Sheffield United, still reeling from last weekend's 8-0 thrashing by Newcastle, failed to recover despite showing some improvement after the break.
The defeat, their sixth in seven games following their promotion last year, keeps the Blades bottom of the Premier League table and leaves manager Paul Heckingbottom under mounting scrutiny.
For West Ham, meanwhile, the victory, in what was David Moyes' 900th league game as a manager, sees them consolidate their place in seventh, closing the gap on some of the teams above them.
Heckingbottom had called on his players to provide a response in the wake of their Newcastle ordeal but they looked a wounded side in the first half and were fortunate not to fall behind earlier.
Soucek was first to go close, firing a golden opportunity over the bar from Bowen's cut-back, with defender Nayef Aguerd then seeing a close-range effort hacked off the line.
Bowen also went close, his powerful header from James Ward-Prowse's corner drawing an excellent, one-handed save from Wes Foderingham, but his opener arrived soon afterwards.
It was beautifully worked, with Bowen, Edson Alvarez and Soucek combining smartly to release Vladimir Coufal, whose cut-back was dispatched first-time by the onrushing England international.
Sheffield United looked second-best in every department and fell further behind when a woeful pass by Gustavo Hamer was cut out and Michail Antonio played in Soucek, who controlled the ball deftly before stroking a low finish past Foderingham.
Sheffield finally managed to stem the tide in the second half and had chances to reduce the deficit, with Oli McBurnie sending a header wastefully wide and Anel Ahmedhodzic seeing another nodded effort charged down by Areola from an angle.
Their improvement ensured they avoided another heavy defeat, but, with one point from seven games and rooted to the bottom of the table, the outlook looks bleak for them and their manager.
West Ham boss David Moyes said: "Gareth (Southgate) is a great judge, and he will know what players are right, but I would say Jarrod Bowen is as close now as he has ever been (to an England call-up).
"He's in really good form, quick, sharp. He looks like he can do a lot of things at the moment.
"I'm not going to pick the England team, that's for sure, Gareth's done a good enough job over the years and he continues to do so.
"I think when you score goals in big games, it quite often (lifts) you and I think, to play for England, you have to be good at scoring in big games because you're expected to be at that level.
"Jarrod is doing great for us at West Ham. He's getting his goals and he was a wee bit unlucky on a couple more today. He had a great header at a corner kick which the 'keeper saved. He's playing really well."
On his side's performance, he added: "I thought the first 20 or 30 minutes we were pretty good and I liked what we saw. We created a few chances which we missed but then we scored a brilliantly-worked goal.
"Lots of good things but not so much in the second half. I wasn't as happy with the second half but we had got ourselves in front and we had something to hang on to."
Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom said: "In the first half, we were too loose in possession and the distances between us as a group were far too big, so when we attacked we didn't have enough bodies around the ball to win it back.
"In the second half, we changed that straight away. We were much more aggressive, on the front foot, winning the ball back in West Ham's half. We have to make sure we deliver that type of performance whether we're home or away.
"It's clear why we lost it - a defensive error first goal and losing possession for the second. Overall, we can't play that way, even if the second half was much better."
Asked if his squad has the quality to stay up, he said: "I believe it and we've shown it.
"If you look at our games, we've not lost because of other teams being far better than us, we've lost because of little key moments.
"We've suffered last-minute goals when we weren't at our best but we could easily have taken points from some really good teams. There's evidence there to suggest we can get the points.
"There's two choices. We feel sorry for ourselves, or we battle and we fight for those points. I know they're there to try and win and so do the players."
West Ham travel to Germany on Thursday to face Freiburg in the Europa League; kick-off 5.45pm.
The Hammers are back in Premier League action on Sunday October 8 when they host Newcastle at the London Stadium; kick-off 2pm.
Meanwhile, Sheffield United travel to Fulham on Saturday October 7; kick-off 3pm.
