If there is such as predicting where a pass will go then Jarrod Bowen didn’t have too hard a task after a hint from one of his West Ham teammates as to where the ball was going to go in the build up to West Ham’s opener against Newcastle at the weekend.
The Hammers drew 2-2 on Tyneside in a game where the visitors threw away the lead twice to earn a point against the in-form Toon to move four points clear of safety in the Premier League.
The visitors had taken the lead through Michail Antonio’s strike only for Miguel Almiron to slide home from close range to level matters.
Shortly after the break, West Ham went ahead once again through Tomas Soucek’s fine finish but just 92 seconds later,. Jonjo Shelvey has rumbled his way through the Hammers defence to stroke past Lukasz Fabianski and in the end the points were shared.
Pablo Fornals was at fault for the Toon second goal as he failed to push up quickly enough which left all Newcastle players onside but he also played a big hand in the opening goal of the game, much like he did for Andriy Yarmolenko's winner against Chelsea in midweek.
While the Spaniard doesn’t get an assist for either, he gets a, sort of, pre-assist, if that makes any sense.
The attacking midfielder has been played all over the midfield by Moyes since the Scot arrives but now the manager has finally settled for a more central role for Formals, which is by far and the way the best for him as being plonked on the left wing, or the right as Manuel Pellegrini used to, certainly is not getting the most out of him.
At St James’ Park, Fornals couldn’t have made Jarrod Bowen’s job much easier in the build up to the opening goal as the visitors got off to a fast start.
Bowen helped himself to a third assist in two games as he laid a cross into the box in the fourth minute which Toon defender Jamaal Lascelles made a complete mess of, allowing Michail Antonio to smash the ball into the roof of the net to give the Hammers the lead.
In the build up to the goal, Fornals was instrumental in the move getting underway. Having received a lay-off from lone striker Antonio, Fornals was then on the move.
As he drifted further and further infield, he physically pointed towards Bowen as to where he was going to put the ball in behind Newcastle left Javi Manquillo. Fornals did just that with a perfectly weighted pass and Bowen was through. The triumvate of Hammers burst forward as one with Antonio coming in from the left wing and Fornals making his way to the centre of the dee.
Bowen headed towards the box and crossed in for Antonio, via Lascelles error, to lash home from close range as the visitors took the lead.
It was one they couldn’t hold on to, twice, throughout the 90 minutes but the Hammers did earn what could be another crucial point in their battle against the drop.
West Ham resume their battle against the drop when they take on European-chaing Burnley at London Stadium before a two crucial fixtures gasinst fellow relegation candidates Norwich City and Watford.
