West Ham United’s survival in the Premier League hangs by a thread as the last two season-defying weeks loom large. Two points behind with two to play, the Hammers will be focussed on winning their remaining games and hoping their north London relegation rivals slip up.

West Ham need a win at Newcastle on Sunday to flip the narrative back to pressure on Tottenham who don’t play until Tuesday.

Wild cards Chelsea will be coming off an FA Cup final this Saturday so, with a caretaker manager and a topsy turvy season, few could predict the outcome of that London derby. Chelsea could turn up and trounce Tottenham or surrender meekly, if their recent results are anything to go by.

Even more reason for Jarrod Bowen’s Hammers to try and steal three points on Sunday afternoon.

Ironically, were it not for fate, Bowen could already be a Newcastle United player: He’d been as close to signing as anyone can get before Moyes nabbed him from Hull City in 2020, as Newcastleworld.com remind us, with rumoured interest in Bowen likely to reignite next month:

“Steve Bruce, who signed Bowen for Hull from Hereford United for just £50,000, later revealed his frustration at missing out on bringing him to Newcastle.

Bowen – signed under Newcastle’s noses in 2020

“The big one I missed on at Newcastle was Jarrod Bowen… I had him parked in the service station on the M1 waiting to see if we could scramble the funds… but I couldn’t get the money together and he went to West Ham instead.”

Newcastle will be hoping second time lucky seeing that Newcastle rank highly amongst likely summer suitors alongside Everton and Liverpool.

West Ham fans will be praying for a Bowen-inspired victory against the Magpies to take the survival battle into the final weekend as speculation – or maybe just plain ‘hope’ – has been rife amongst West Ham fans that JB20 will stay even if the Irons do suffer relegation.

A win on Sunday may just possibly mean that theory never gets put to the test.

With David Sullivan’s need for cash and huge losses at the club I wouldn’t be so optimistic: Bowen still has one big move in him and six years propping up West Ham’s attack is more than enough for anyone.

He deserves a big money move, should the Irons fall at the last hurdle, and few could begrudge him a couple more seasons at the highest level. Quite what his family would say, though, about a move to the frozen wasteland of Tyneside, is a matter for another article altogether.