Bowen says Liverpool loss a 'kick in the teeth' but Hammers will bounce back

Jarrod Bowen is confident West Ham will bounce back from Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Liverpool.

The Hammers missed the chance to move further clear of the Premier League relegation fight, despite taking the lead against the Reds.

A trip to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace on Saturday is West Ham’s next assignment and Bowen insists the team will go there in good spirits.

“This game was a kick in the teeth, but we’ll bounce back from that,” he told West Ham TV. “We’ve got a real spirit in this group to bounce back from disappointment, so we’ll do that again.

“It’s also difficult when you go to Selhurst Park with the atmosphere they create.

“But we can go there full of confidence I think, especially with our recent performances and results we’ve picked.”

Cody Gakpo’s long-range effort cancelled out Lucas Paqueta’s opener at the London Stadium before Joel Matip headed home a second-half corner to complete Liverpool’s comeback.

Bowen felt the home side only had themselves to blame with the manner of the goals they conceded.

“The goals were just a disappointment on our behalf,” he added. “One was from a set-piece, which we usually pride ourselves on defensively and offensively, and the other one sees Gakpo shoot, and we probably could have got a bit closer to it.

“We knew they would have a lot of the ball and they are a good team, there is no denying that.

“With the way they play, there were times we had to suffer without the ball and there were times when we had to go and put the pressure on and I think we got the balance right.

“It was disappointing on our behalf, to give them those goals, but there were some positives from this that we can take into Saturday’s game.”

David Moyes’ men went into Wednesday night’s match having scored eight goals in their previous two games, a 4-1 Europa Conference League victory over Gent and a 4-0 thrashing of Bournemouth, and they had chances to score more against Liverpool.

Bowen had the ball in the back of the net just after the break, but his effort was ruled out for offside.

“The last few weeks we’ve been at it to a better level, closer to what we expect of ourselves,” he added.

“Even (last night), there were times when we could have been better on the ball, but I also thought there were times when we looked dangerous.”

Gakpo’s 18th-minute goal was his sixth in the Premier League since his January arrival at Anfield and the Holland forward feels Liverpool are heading in the right direction.

The win at West Ham made it three victories in a row.

“I’ve not been here so long, so I don’t know how it felt before, but I think we’re getting on the right track,” Gakpo told Liverpoolfc.com.

“I think you have to stay sharp for 90 minutes (against West Ham) because it’s only one moment they can counter and then they get a goal.

“But we did really well defensively – at the end they scored one and we scored two. We did great.”