Jarrod Bowen’s hat-trick heroics lead West Ham to a 4-2 victory over Brentford
West Ham and Brentford: Jarrod Bowen’s exceptional hat-trick propelled the Hammers to a resounding 4-2 victory, marking their first Premier League win since December 28.
With 12 games left, the Bees are still in the thick of the relegation fight. This defeat effectively puts a stop to David Moyes’ team’s run of six games without a win, which began on December 28.
Within five minutes, Bowen scored his first goal of the game and his first in the league since December 23. Less than two minutes later, he ghosted into the area to guide home his second goal.
Shortly after the halftime, Bowen completed his treble, his first in senior football, and Emerson hammered home a piledriver to put the game beyond Brentford, who had now conceded nine goals in their previous three games. Neal Maupay cut the lead in half.
Though they did succeed in forcing another one back through Yoane Wissa, the Bees were unable to mount the kind of dramatic comeback they needed.
with Everton’s 10-point deduction was lowered to six on appeal earlier in the day, Luton dropped to 18th place, and West Ham moved up to eighth place with their first Premier League victory over Brentford.
How, in 2024, West Ham managed to get back on its feet
After eight games without a victory in any tournament, West Ham supporters were hoping for a calm start, and it came as planned in East London.
The Hammers took the lead moments after Tomas Soucek connected on Vladimir Coufal’s deflected cross over the bar. Lucas Paqueta and Emerson exchanged neat passes, and Emerson’s pull-back from the left was hammered home by Bowen.
It was 2-0 before Brentford had considered mounting an offensive of their own. After passing the ball to Mohammed Kudus, Bowen dashed into the box unhindered, with the straightforward goal of turning Coufal’s square ball into a goal.
Brentford did manage to equalize in the first half with their first and only shot on goal. Ivan Toney gave the ball to Keane Lewis-Potter, who skillfully threaded a magnificent through ball for Maupay, who maintained composure to smash a high shot past Alphonse Areola and into the net.
By halftime, Brentford’s defense was significantly busier. At that point, West Ham had attempted thirteen attempts, but a third goal was not forthcoming, creating a sense of unease within the London Stadium.
But the third did arrive shortly after the hour, as Bowen used the matchball to round off an amazing evening. Kudus curled in a beautiful cross, and Sergio Reguilon retreated, allowing the England attacker to just miss the goal with a header.
And the fourth followed. Once Emerson had collected Nathan Collins’ clearance, he gave in to the pressure from the fans and struck a beautiful long-range shot that was well beyond Mark Flekken’s reach.
Coming off the bench, Wissa limited the damage with his third goal in six games this season and fifth of the campaign against West Ham, which was verified by VAR.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
JARROD BOWEN (West Ham)
Bowen said,
“It feels amazing. I’ve had two goals a few times, but I never managed to complete a hat-trick. I was thinking about it during halftime because the first two goals came in quite quickly after one another. “Kudus deserves credit for placing the ball within the box; I’ve always wished I could score on the third attempt.
“I’m quite happy of myself for getting the match ball and winning the game. Inside, I was humming so much.”
Moyes Praises Hat-rick hero Bowen
“Perhaps the reason Lucas Paqueta’s return changed everything for everyone so much. We had a wonderful start to the game, played well in the first half, and deserved to be up. I’m just sad that we let a few more opportunities slip by. It’s fantastic to have that outcome because we played a lot of well and scored a few really nice goals.
“I’m very happy for Jarrod. I believe that because of our poor play and Jarrod’s consistent ability to take the game to them, his recent efforts have gone somewhat overlooked. It hasn’t fully clicked. It did tonight. The goals will undoubtedly be the most notable thing, but his overall performance and method of play—he had three or four additional runs in the game where he posed a threat the entire time—will also be noted.
“I was unhappy we didn’t finish the game in a better manner because I felt at 4-1 we should have gone for the jugular and kept trying to score more and it looked like we were nearly going to settle for that. It’s true that this is our first win of the year, which I hate to say, but it’s a fact, so we ought to have tried to win when we had the chance. Nevertheless, I was happy that we succeeded. We eliminated Brentford’s reputation tonight because they have also been a bit of a bogey team.”
