Jarrod Bowen's Brace Secures West Ham's Top Spot in Championship

Jarrod Bowen fired West Ham to the top of the Championship and ripped up 31 years of frustration at Bolton with a captain’s performance that carried the stamp of a promotion charge.

The England forward struck twice in a breathless 3-2 win, opening the scoring after 13 minutes and then settling it with 13 minutes left, the decisive goal that finally delivered a first Hammers victory at Bolton since the early 1990s.

Between those two moments, West Ham were dragged into a familiar nightmare.

Bolton, desperate after three straight defeats, hit back through Ethan Erhahon, the midfielder claiming his first goal for the club to level the game and inject belief into a home crowd that had seen this fixture go their way eight league meetings in a row. When Ruben Rodrigues coolly tucked away a 27th-minute penalty, Wanderers looked ready to extend that run to nine.

The lead didn’t last long. Four minutes later, Konstantinos Mavropanos powered in a header to make it 2-2, and from there the game became a test of nerve. West Ham held theirs. Bowen, again, supplied the finish, and with it top spot on goal difference.

Saints sink another leader as Larin keeps firing

At St Mary’s, Southampton made a habit of it. Another home game, another league leader taken apart.

Cyle Larin scored his fifth of the season in a 3-1 win over Swansea, continuing a blistering run that has made him joint-top scorer in the division. He struck either side of goals from Finn Azaz and Leo Scienza as Saints stretched their unbeaten home run to 13 league matches.

Swansea arrived as pacesetters. They left looking like just another side unable to live with Southampton’s rhythm on their own turf.

Watford turn it around, Preston slide again

Watford spent 45 minutes in a daze, then woke up and tore into Preston.

Callum Lang had put the visitors in front after just six minutes, and for much of the first half Preston threatened to run away with it. Watford looked flat, second to everything, pinned back by a side that sensed weakness.

The response after the break was sharp and ruthless. Edo Kayembe dragged the Hornets level, and within seven minutes Mamadou Doumbia had completed the turnaround for a 2-1 win. Preston, beaten for the fifth time in six league games, trudged away with their slump deepening.

Wrexham stall, Burnley still stuck

At the Racecourse Ground, the mood was more muted. Wrexham’s search for a home league win goes on after a 1-1 draw with struggling Burnley, a result that suits nobody with promotion on their minds.

Zeki Amdouni’s first-half finish put Burnley in front and briefly hinted at a reset for a side that has been reeling since relegation. Wrexham, though, refused to fold. Jacques Ekomie, a £7m signing from Angers, rose to head in his second goal for the club and level the contest.

Burnley at least snapped a grim sequence of seven straight away league defeats stretching back to last season. That’s where the positives end. One league win since October tells its own story, and even the arrival of former England striker Jamie Vardy this week could not lift them here; the 39-year-old watched on, suspended because of yellow cards collected with Cremonese.

Wrexham, once surging, now feel stuck in neutral. The momentum that carried them into last season has thinned, and nights like this do little to restore it.

Blades cut through Blackburn with ruthless edge

Sheffield United, by contrast, rediscovered theirs at Blackburn, snatching a 2-1 victory built on clinical finishing rather than control.

Rovers dominated the first half and earned their lead when Kristi Montgomery swept in her first goal for the club on 20 minutes. They moved the ball well, created chances, and looked in complete command.

Then came the punch to the gut.

Tom Cannon, back on a ground he clearly enjoys, stroked in his second goal here in as many weeks on 35 minutes with one of United’s rare attacks. A minute before the break, Sydie Peck rifled home his first of the season to flip the game on its head.

Blackburn never recovered that early authority. United didn’t need more. Two shots, two goals, three points – and a reminder that in a promotion race this tight, the sides who finish like that are the ones who tend to last the distance.