West Ham welcomed Fulham to the London Stadium on Saturday, for a vitally important London derby.

In the end, Fulham defeated West Ham 1-0 as they failed to make any ground on 17th-placed Nottingham Forest, and was undoubtedly another big missed opportunity to get three points.

Pressure on Nuno Espirito Santo has now reached boiling point, as the club struggle to find a way out of their relegation predicament.

Michael Dawson in disbelief at Jarrod Bowen miss vs Fulham

West Ham will be looking to sign a striker in January, and a key flashpoint in the Hammers’ defeat to Fulham perhaps shows why that is the case.

On 66 minutes, Soungoutou Magassa was played in down the right by Kyler Walker-Peters, before the French midfielder picked out Bowen on the edge of the six-yard box.

However, with the goal at his mercy, the England international could only slice his effort wide, passing up a golden opportunity that a player of his quality should, and usually would snap up.

Watching the game in the Sky Sports News studio was Dawson, and he was equally as stunned as everyone inside the London Stadium that Bowen didn’t put the ball in the net.

“West Ham should be ahead, and it’s Jarrod Bowen,” said Dawson.

“They’ve changed formation because Callum Wilson has gone through the middle, they like to see Bowen down that right-hand side.

“Magassa, twice does brilliant, gets inside the box, pulls it back, but this time Bowen has to score. Right foot, six yards out, comes off his heel and just goes past the post.“

Bowen miss sums up West Ham’s current situation

West Ham wouldn’t have wanted that chance to fall to any other player than Bowen, with the 29-year-old their top scorer with five Premier League goals this season.

However, the fact he sliced it as badly as he did was a visual metaphor for just how dire West Ham’s season has been to this point, and shows exactly why they find themselves in the position they’re in.

• West Ham had 11 shots vs Fulham, with just two on target
• Bowen had the least amount of touches (35) of any outfield player
• Bowen failed to create any chances in the defeat to Fulham – per FotMob

If West Ham are to survive in the Premier League this season, they simply have to address their misfiring forward line in January and add some real firepower to the team.

Should they fail to do so, then it looks hard to see anything other than Championship football coming to the London Stadium next season.

Enjoyed this article? Stay connected with all the latest West Ham United news, updates, and behind-the-scenes content by following us on our new Instagram account – @westhamzone247