No need to worry about Bowen

There was a couple of injury absentees for the Hammers today as they faced Brentford on a wet Saturday afternoon.

Jarrod Bowen was missing from today’s matchday squad having picked up a minor injury in the week in training at Rush Green, speculation that he was excluded because of interest from Liverpool flatly denied with a club insider laughing off the suggestions of a conspiracy theory that was posted on social media.

Angelo Ogbonna was also missing after suffering from a slight hamstring injury but both players are expected to be fit for the start of the Premier League against Newcastle United away in two weeks time.

New signing Alphonse Areola, along with Tomáš Souček, Vladimír Coufal and Andriy Yarmolenko – who returned to training this week after their involvement in Euro 2020 were not involved, with the quartet having trained at Rush Green this morning and deemed not ready to be thrown back in action this weekend.

All four are expected to be available for selection next weekend for the Betway Cup at the London Stadium.