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West Ham boss David Moyes has challenged Jarrod Bowen to hit the 20-goal mark in the Premier League.
Bowen marked his return from injury with a goal in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to Liverpool.
It moved Bowen up to 20 goals in all competitions with 16 in the league, but his manager is hopeful of a scoring spree during their final three games which would see him follow in the footsteps of Tony Cottee as the last Hammer to hit 20 top-flight goals.
“He’s been hugely important this year and there is not many West Ham forwards or strikers who got over 20 goals,” Moyes said.
“Jarrod has got 20 in all competitions. I was hoping he would have 20 out-and-out Premier League goals. He has got 16 at the moment, so I am sort of pushing him.
“If he can get four in the last three games it would be a great record to try and get 20 Premier League goals.
“He has been a great player. When you think he’s come from Hereford to Hull, Hull to here and the journey he is on at the moment.
“He has played probably three-quarters of the season as a wide player and probably quarter of it as a number nine.
“I think he has done a great job and he can play both positions equally as well. He is a current England international and I hope he gets the chance to show it in the months to come.”
Moyes was pleased but not surprised with West Ham’s spirit against Liverpool after they bounced back from an embarrassing 5-2 loss at Crystal Palace last weekend.
He added: “On the back of a stinking result last week, I thought the players showed great character and stuck at it against a really good team.
“We’ve done it quite often against a lot of the big sides here this season: Tottenham, Man United, Chelsea, so maybe you shouldn’t be too surprised that we’ve bloodied somebody’s nose.
“We would have liked three points, but we weren’t quite good enough for that.”
I think he is doing really, really well but I am obviously not in charge of these decisions so I don’t know what will happen
Jurgen Klopp on David Moyes
West Ham boss Moyes joked he would be happy to see the back of departing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, but his own future remains unresolved with his current deal set to expire this summer.
Moyes revealed on Friday talks over his future are on hold until the end of the season.
Klopp offered support for his adversary, adding: “I have spoken quite frequently about how much I respect David.
“I think he has done an incredible job. I think he is a great guy, a real character and a man of the game.
“I think he is doing really, really well but I am obviously not in charge of these decisions so I don’t know what will happen.”
