Jarrod Bowen calls for more fight as West Ham's survival battle deepens

[p]Goals either side of halftime from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mcginn-john/rgGnzD2e/"]John McGinn[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/watkins-ollie/rHnOkDD8/"]Ollie Watkins[/a] strengthened [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/W00wmLO0/"]‌Villa[/a]'s push for Champions League qualification, but left the visitors ‌rooted in the bottom three. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/west-ham/Cxq57r8g/"]West Ham[/a] are 18th with 29 points ‌from 31 matches, their margin for error continuing to shrink.[/p][p]In ‌the relegation battle, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tottenham/UDg08Ohm/"]Tottenham Hotspur[/a], one point above the relegation zone in 17th, were thrashed 3-0 at home by fellow strugglers [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nottingham/UsushcZr/"]Nottingham Forest[/a].[/p][p][b]"Regardless of the result ‌today, we have to focus on ourselves," [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bowen-jarrod/pW170H9K/"]Bowen[/a] ⁠told [i]Sky Sports[/i].[/b][/p][p][b]"We go into ‌the break and then come back for a big end to the ​season. You have to hold your hands up and say they were better than us on the day - that's horrible ​to admit - but we just weren't at the races for whatever reason.[/b][/p][p][b]"We feel like we are still in a good place, we ⁠can't let this put ​down all the work we have done to get here. It has not been a good season at all for us, but we have to keep fighting to stay in the Premier League."[/b][/p][embed guid="f6a15d00-b7b6-4d6b-bdc9-2183418e04e2" url="https://x.com/WestHam/status/2035770984670855572" social-type="twitter" /][p]After the ‌international break, West Ham host [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/leeds/tUxUbLR2/"]Leeds United[/a] in the FA Cup quarter-finals on April 5th before returning to Premier League duty in a pivotal clash against bottom-side [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/wolves/j3Azpf5d/"]Wolverhampton Wanderers[/a] on April 10th.[/p][h2]Watkins back with a bang[/h2][p]For Villa, Watkins' strike offered further encouragement after a challenging period. The striker was omitted from Thomas Tuchel's 35-man England squad for this month's World Cup warm-up friendlies following a dip in form.[/p][p]The 30-year-old responded by netting his 10th goal in 43 games in ‌all competitions this season.[/p][p][b]"He is a fighter," Villa manager Unai Emery ​told the [i]BBC[/i]. "He is always doing his tasks, and doing ‌his tasks I am always delighted with him. Then it's numbers. Today he scored, but he must be consistent in his mentality to do his tasks and get his numbers.[/b][/p][p][b]"To be in the national team it is something every player wants ⁠but he must continue working ⁠and give the coach trouble (picking) ‌for the next World Cup."[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/aston-villa-W00wmLO0/west-ham-Cxq57r8g/report/?mid=U7CL8Og5"]Check out the match report from the game with Flashscore.[/a][/p]