West Ham injury blow confirmed ahead of Europa League clash in Newcastle United and Man Utd boost

West Ham will be without Jarrod Bowen when they take on runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen in the first-leg of their Europa League quarter-final meeting on Thursday night. Bowen was substituted in the 54th minute of their win over Wolves at the weekend and won’t feature against Xabi Alonso’s side in Germany.

Speaking about Bowen’s injury at the weekend, David Moyes said: “We have to hope he’s okay. You need all your top players at this stage of the season and Jarrod is one who’s been doing great for us. It looks like he’s had a knee into his hip, or his back. It’s not a twist or anything like that. He’s really stiff and I’ve had one or two of those myself and they don’t go away too quick.

“We need to hope it doesn’t linger. I asked Jarrod how he’s feeling and he said he feels sore. I’m just hoping it’s not too bad. Every week you need your big players to be ready, but we need him this week.”

Confirmation on whether the former Hull City man will be fit to face Fulham at the weekend is awaited but it’s likely to be a situation that is monitored closely on Tyneside, in West London and in Manchester as the race for European qualification begins to heat up. West Ham currently sit 7th in the Premier League table, one point behind Manchester United and one ahead of Newcastle United.

Chelsea sit a little further back but know if they win their game in hand, they would be right back into the mix to finish in a European place. New coefficient rules ahead of reformatted and expanded trio of continental competitions mean there is yet to be official confirmation on how many spots in the Premier League will be reserved for European qualification.

That will likely only be determined at the end of the season, meaning all clubs involved in the race will be keen to get points on the board and finish the campaign strongly and as high up the table as possible. West Ham’s Europa League opponents Leverkusen, meanwhile, haven’t lost a game in any competition this season and host the reigning Europa Conference League champions at the BayArena on Thursday night.