Ben Mee suggests 26-year-old West Ham man is even harder to defend against than Michail Antonio

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Brentford defender Ben Mee has been speaking about West Ham United forward Jarrod Bowen after his scintillating start to the campaign.

Mee was speaking on BBC 5 Live ahead of West Ham’s defeat to Aston Villa in the Premier League yesterday.

The Hammers faced one of the toughest tests of the season with Villa ten games unbeaten in the league at home.

In an end-to-end game, the first goal was always going to be crucial and Douglas Luiz broke the deadlock before half-time.

He doubled their advantage after a contentious penalty decision when Edson Alvarez was adjudged to have fouled Ezri Konsa.

However, as has been the case so often this season, Jarrod Bowen was the man who gave West Ham a glimmer of hope.

His speculative effort took a deflection and found its way past Emi Martinez to get the Hammers back into the game, but ultimately his goal was in vain.

Two late Villa goals ended the game as a contest and send David Moyes’s side back to London empty-handed.

Ben Mee has now been speaking about how difficult is it to play against Bowen when facing West Ham.

He had a tough time against the England international last season and won’t be looking forward to their clash at the start of next month.

Mee raves about West Ham star Bowen

Asked about how difficult it is to face the 26-year-old, Mee said: “The way we pressed last season against West Ham I was actually directly against Jarrod [Bowen] for a lot of the game.

“He’s very direct, for a centre half being pulled out onto the wings isn’t the most comfortable place to be, especially when someone like that is running at you.

“He can go both ways, goes left, goes right, cuts inside and takes you down the line as well.

“He had one moment in the game where he was running at me and I wasn’t quite sure which way he was going to go and I’ve left a leg out just outside the box and I was confident it was outside but the referee gave a penalty, it ended up being a free kick.

“He picks up the ball and you know he’s going to be running at you, he’s very direct.

“Very important player for this West Ham side and yeah he’s been knocking on the door for England and it was great for him to get his start.”

Mee isn’t the only defender who has struggled to contain Bowen this season with West Ham looking like a very exciting outfit this season.

Jack Grealish admitted on international duty he’s been impressed with his England teammate.

Ally McCoist has backed him to be part of Gareth Southgate’s squad to go to the European Championships next summer.

West Ham will want to put yesterday’s result behind them quickly and move on to Thursday’s Europa League clash against Olympiacos.