Another Saturday summary to come for you now as we look back on West Ham United 3-1 Sunderland.
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BOWEN ON PENS
Lucas Paqueta‘s (£5.9m) time at West Ham may be coming to an end – and that could be good news for Jarrod Bowen (£7.6m).
Paqueta has been first in line for penalties at the club for the last few seasons. Another spot-kick candidate, the barely used James Ward-Prowse (£5.6m), is expected to follow Paqueta out of the exit door this January.
So, there was a question mark over who would step up from 12 yards with both of those players out of the equation.
New signings Taty Castellanos (£5.5m) and Pablo Felipe (£5.5m) were candidates, having both taken them previously.
But it was Bowen (who has frequently deputised in the past) who got the nod on Saturday, converting from the spot after Ollie Scarles (£4.3m) had been felled. Taty and Pablo were both on the field at the time, too.
Nuno Espirito Santo could not bear to watch Jarrod Bowen’s penalty v Sunderland 😅 @WestHam pic.twitter.com/tQ1zX0k4yl
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 24, 2026
Adding spot-kicks to corner-taking duties and game-time guarantees further boosts his FPL appeal.
SUMMERVILLE ON SONG
The jury is still out on how the addition of two forwards to the team affects Bowen’s open-play threat.
On paper, Bowen is wider than before, with Pablo and Taty occupying the central zones. He’s had just two non-penalty shots across the two Premier League matches that the January signings have started together.
But the two new strikers are grafters, rather than prolific goalscorers (Taty has missed all four big chances he’s had since his arrival). Nuno Espirito Santo wants others to pitch in with the goals.
“The important part is that we are getting bodies in the box, creating troubles to our opponent.” – Nuno Espirito Santo, when asked about Crysencio Summerville’s goal
And West Ham’s opener was an example of that. Bowen sticking wide and crossing the ball, Crysencio Summerville (£5.5m) attacking the back-post and nodding in. Summerville has had seven shots over the last two Gameweeks, indeed.
Bowen talked of the relationship being reciprocal: when Summerville has the ball on the left, Bowen will be the one crashing the area.
“Me and Cry speak a lot in terms of when the ball’s on the other. If Cry’s got the ball, I say to him, ‘I’m always going to be in the box. So, when you cross it in, get in the back post for goals because I think you can add a lot of goals to your game with that’. And I said the same to him. When I’ve got the ball, I’ll try and beat my full-back. I’m confident I can beat the full-back. And on my right foot, my weaker side, I’ll always try and hang it up and leave it in an area that you trust that the runs are going to come in there. Cry has run brilliantly and leapt really well and headed the ball like a proper centre-forward.” – Jarrod Bowen
Matheus Fernandes (£5.5m), impressing in central midfield, scored a superb third and hit the bar with another effort. He’ll have to rely on rockets from distance; he’s not had a shot in the box since December.
It’s been slightly better from West Ham defensively of late, with Konstantinos Mavropanos (£4.4m) and Jeanclair Todibo (£4.3m) showing signs of forging a decent centre-half partnership. However, it’s still zero clean sheets since Nuno took over, so interest in the Hammers’ backline is negligible – especially with Chelsea away up next.
XHAKA INJURY BLOW
How much will Granit Xhaka‘s (£5.3m) absence affect Sunderland, particularly when it comes to clean sheets?
The influential Swiss midfielder is set for a spell on the sidelines with an ankle injury picked up in Gameweek 22. That wasn’t officially revealed until the teamsheets came out on Saturday morning.
ℹ️ Granit Xhaka has been ruled out of today’s trip to West Ham United.
The midfielder sustained an ankle injury in last weekend’s victory over Crystal Palace and is now undergoing a period of rehabilitation at the Academy of Light. pic.twitter.com/rC2WKtdaSv
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) January 24, 2026
Given that Xhaka had started every Premier League match until Gameweek 23, there’s little with/without data to go off.
The Black Cats did look slightly rudderless without him in the first half; as much as anything else, it’s his irreplaceable leadership and organisational skills that will be missed.
Then again, perhaps we’re reading too much into it. Sunderland have been pretty poor on the road for a while now, winning none of their last seven away games.
Regis Le Bris said afterwards that Xhaka will “have to rest for at least two weeks” before further assessment will be taken.
THREE IN FOUR FOR BROBBEY AS MUKIELE TICKS OVER
Much of Sunderland’s struggles on the road have come down to goalscoring. No side had scored fewer goals (five) on their travels than the Mackems heading into Gameweek 23, although Bryan Brobbey (£5.5m) added one more to that paltry tally on Saturday.
That’s three goals in four Gameweeks for the Dutchman, who has now started eight Premier League matches on the spin.
Nordi Mukiele (£4.4m) continues to find ways to tick over, too. Deployed as a right-back again, with Dan Ballard (£4.6m) and Omar Alderete (£4.1m) at centre-half, the versatile Mukiele supplied the cross that Brobbey converted.
Remarkably, it’s now nine Gameweeks since Mukiele failed to deliver a clean sheet, attacking return and/or DefCon points.
Trai Hume (£4.5m), Romaine Mundle (£4.9m) and an unusually out-of-sorts Reinildo (£3.8m) were all hooked at the break by Le Bris.
If there is one consolation for the Black Cats in Xhaka’s absence, it’s that they can now call upon the long-unavailable Habib Diarra (£5.3m) in midfield again. He came on at the interval, and was arguably the pick of the visitors’ players.
