West Ham head coach Graham Potter heaped praise on Jarrod Bowen after the 3-1 victory at Ipswich.
The Hammers’ captain netted for the fourth successive match – in his 200th appearance – after assisting with the game’s opening goal, scored by James Ward-Prowse.
Although the relegated hosts equalised after the restart through Nathan Broadhead, Bowen restored their lead soon after, before Mohammed Kudus wrapped up the win with a goal three minutes from the end.
Potter said after the final Premier League contest of the season: “I thought that his (Bowen) overall performance just sums up him as a person, how he performed today, the energy that he had.
“Everything that we did that was good. I thought it came through him. In and out of possession, helped the team, ran in behind, linked up, he was a real threat and everyone in the stadium could feel that when he had the ball there was a sharpness to him.
“There was a period in the first half where we lost our way a little bit and then we had to defend and then we had to suffer for about 10 or 15 minutes but apart from that I thought that we were in a good place.
“As a team we have to be better. I don’t like to rely on individuals to dig you out.”
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna said his opponents showed Premier League experience and “executed” better then his team in both boxes.
McKenna said: “I thought it was an even game, (a) well balanced game, we did a lot of good things to compete with West Ham.
“I thought we had more chances in the game than them and we have spoken lots this year about the difference in the category of the games and I think it’s probably reflective of the challenges and the level we haven’t quite been able to hit.
“So I think against most of the teams in most of the matches this year we were able to compete in terms of our principles and organisation and our football between both boxes.
“We were able to get to good positions in good areas but the execution of top end players in this division…with the experience and the calibre that they have, they execute more often than ours.
“West Ham executed better than us in both boxes and they take the points.”
