Jarrod Bowen makes ‘excellent’ Newcastle United claim - and name checks Aston Villa & Brighton

West Ham United star Jarrod Bowen is anticipating a “tasty” encounter when Newcastle United visit the London Stadium this afternoon (kick-off 2pm).

Both clubs head into the Premier League fixture on the back of European wins in midweek. The Magpies recorded a memorable 4-1 victory over French champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday then 24 hours later, the Hammers beat Freiburg away in the Europa League.

Just one point and one place separates the two teams in the league table with West Ham in 7th and United in 8th. Bowen, the East London’s top scorer this campaign with five goals in seven matches, expects a tough game against “excellent” Newcastle.

The attacker said: “What a game it will be! The way Newcastle have played since Eddie Howe joined has been excellent, and they’re obviously playing in the Champions League now. For that city and those fans, that’s incredible.

“Sunday will be a tough, tough game. They’ve started the season strongly as well, but we want to win the match. It’s the last game before the international break and it’s another opportunity for us to get three points and push up the table.

“It’s always a tasty game when we play them because they play at such a high intensity. They always bring a good away following too so it is set up for a really good game.”

Directly above Newcastle and West Ham in the table are Aston Villa and Brighton and Hove Albion. David Moyes’ men, who are the Europa Conference League holders, have ambitions to break into European contention after battling relegation last season.

But Bowen admits the fight for those positions has never been tighter.

“The top ten in the Premier League at the moment is so strong and so open,” Bowen added. “You have teams like Newcastle, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa, who have started the season well, but it’s also a tight league and every club has their ambitions.

“We know what we want to achieve. Since I’ve been here, we’ve been lucky to play in Europe for three years. With the size of the Club, the Stadium and the fanbase, you can see the direction that the Club wants to go in, to be European regulars, and I think that’s what the Club deserves.

“We’ve had two good years in terms of league position, and last season wasn’t what we wanted it to be domestically, but we still got Europe through winning the Conference League. The ambitions are to keep growing and keep building.”