- Jarrod Bowen returned to training with West Ham team-mates on Wednesday
- The Hammers star has missed recent games with a problematic back injury
- Arsenal must recover in Munich – they can’t carry the fear from Villa loss into Champions League showdown – Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast
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Jarrod Bowen will face a late fitness test to see if he’s ready to take on Bayer Leverkusen in West Ham’s crunch Europa League clash on Thursday night.
The Hammers must find a way to overturn a two-goal deficit against the newly-crowned unbeaten Bundesliga champions and boss David Moyes knows the return of top scorer Bowen would give the club a ‘huge lift’.
Bowen missed last week’s quarter-final final first leg and the defeat to Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday with a back injury but took part in full West Ham training on Wednesday alongside Kalvin Phillips and goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
‘It was great to see Jarrod out there,’ said Moyes ahead of the game at the London Stadium on Thursday. ‘It’s the first time we’ve had him out. I’m not sure yet [if he’ll be involved].
‘We had Kalvin out there as well but I’m not sure about him either. Alphonse was out as well but I’m not sure about him either. They will all be late calls tomorrow.
‘I would never risk any player if I thought they had chance of injury or it wasn’t right. The player’s welfare is always the most important thing.
‘But you always want your best players back in, you want goalscorers back in as well. Jarrod’s been that for us this season.
‘Most people know exactly what Jarrod’s done for us over this season, and other seasons also. If he came back it would give us a real lift as well and give the crowd a lift.
‘We have to find a way of making some magic happen.’
Bowen will have injections in his back tomorrow to try to get him ready to fire West Ham into the Europa League semi-final. Bowen’s scored 19 goals this season, the most of any Hammers player.
West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski said the whole of the squad was delighted to see their top scorer back on the grass.
‘We we all pleased to see Jarrod out there,’ he said. ‘He is is very important for us. We will see how it goes tomorrow but, hopefully, he will be able to help us.
‘Since he joined us, every single game, every single season, he’s getting better and better.’
