NAPPY DAYS
Eastenders had dire storyline but goal hero Jarrod now has Dyer delight... twins with celebrity girlfriend... and reveals: Pressure was on... we got ourselves in bottom three... so players had to dig club out of it
WEST HAM 2
Bowen 34, 41
EVERTON 0 WEST HAM may be scrapping for their lives at the wrong end of the table but Jarrod Bowen celebrated doing the double.
On Friday, the England striker announced that he and celebrity partner Dani Dyer (together right) were expecting twins.
Twenty-four hours later, Bowen netted both goals in the match billed as ‘El Sackico’ to ease the pressure on his manager David Moyes.
For Frank Lampard, the Everton boss, it was double trouble. His job hangs by the slenderest of threads after 11 defeats in his last 14 games, and his team are now only off the bottom of the Premier League on goal difference.
For Moyes, forget the twos. This was all about the three. Points. And he got them, to move his side out of that bottom three with their first win in eight league games.
Bowen said: “They say it comes in twos! I am delighted with the announcement. I am really happy for me and my missus.” The striker, whose goals were his first in 13 games, admitted he and his team-mates were aware of the pressure their manager was under.
“We know as players, we’re not daft. We’ve come off two years of qualifying for Europe. Now we found ourselves in the bottom three. It’s not where we wanted to be, but as players we got ourselves in that position so it’s on us to get ourselves out of it.
“No one’s going to do it for us, no one’s going to roll over and give us easy games. It’s about us sticking together, being strong, and keep plugging away.”
Moyes has been the picture of calm in the crisis, and Bowen said: “That’s the best way to be. We know the pressure there is.
“The manager has been in the game long enough, he knows how much pressure footballers are under, so he doesn’t want to add to it. But we know, as players, it’s not been good enough.
“We haven’t been happy with the way we’ve performed.
“We say we’re playing well but we were in the bottom three, so we can’t be playing well.
“I don’t think we played amazing, but we dug in and it was what the manager’s really good at, digging in.
“Saturday was really important for us, and for the manager. With the three points the table looks better. It is not amazing, but it is better than it was.”
With everything that was at stake, this game was never going to make for a cracker – but West Ham handled the pressure so much better.
A terrible Yerry Mina back pass that was only just cleared by Jordan Pickford showed that tension early on. But until the
Everton keeper tipped over Said Benrahma’s shot, there was little goalmouth action. But that galvanised the Hammers, and when Kurt Zouma flicked on Emerson’s cross, there was Bowen to stab home.
Four minutes from the interval, Michail Antonio rode James Tarkowski’s tackle and crossed, and there was Bowen (left) again to crash home.
Lampard’s punchless team were marginally better after the break, and Idrissa Gueye saw his shot saved.
But it was the home side – who brought on new boy Danny Ings – that went closest to adding another. Emerson’s shot was turned onto the bar, and Declan Rice missed by an inch.
And as the Everton fans sang “sack the board” and booed their team off, Lampard looked bereft.