Jarrod Bowen injury: West Ham give update before Bayer Leverkusen game | Football

Bowen took a knee to the back in the second half of West Ham’s win at Wolves earlier this month and subsequently played no part in the side’s 2-0 defeat away to Leverkusen last Thursday.

The 27-year-old England forward, the Hammers’ top scorer this season, also missed the club’s loss to Fulham at the weekend and David Moyes will have been keeping close tabs on his fitness ahead of his side’s return to European action.

Determined not to risk exacerbating Bowen’s injury at such a crucial stage of the season, Moyes is expected to leave it as late as possible before deciding whether or not to select the attacker at the London Stadium tomorrow night.

But the sight of Bowen returning to training will no doubt come as a relief to Irons supporters, with last year’s Europa Conference League winners needing to overturn a two-goal deficit to book their place in the Europa League semi-finals.

Kalvin Phillips, who has been struggling with a hamstring issue, also took part in today’s session with the rest of his team-mates at West Ham’s Rush Green training base.

The England midfielder has endured a difficult time since joining the Hammers on loan from Manchester City in January and has missed the club’s last four games in all competitions.

Lucas Paqueta and Emerson will be absent for the second leg with Leverkusen through suspension, with the pair both receiving bookings in West Ham’s defeat at BayArena last week.

Konstantinos Mavrapanos, meanwhile, is likely to miss the clash after hobbling off the field against Fulham, but Alphonse Areola could return in goal following a niggling groin injury.

However, Lukasz Fabianski has been Moyes’ first-choice goalkeeper in Europe this term and the Poland international will hope to continue his run in the side against the newly crowned Bundesliga champions.

West Ham dropped to eighth in the Premier League table after their defeat to Fulham on Sunday and Moyes is ‘desperate’ for the club to bounce back and secure qualification for Europe again next season.

‘The goal is to try and be a European side again if we can be,’ Moyes told reporters at his post-match press conference.

‘That has always been my thought. When you’re in it and you’re playing the Thursday-Sundays it can be difficult, but when you’re out of it, you’re desperate to get back in amongst it.

We’ve had three years of it which have been brilliant for us and if we can make it four, it would be fantastic.

‘It says a lot that we’re at this stage of the season and we’re still fighting for a European spot.

‘We’ve had a lot of football as well and it has been a great effort by the players. We need to push on again now and show we’re ready when it matters.’

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