Wolves 3 West Ham United 0 – Report and pictures

Wolves dominated the first half and went close through Jonny Castro Otto, Leander Dendoncker and Matt Doherty, while Doherty had a big penalty appeal turned and an offside goal from Dendoncker was chalked off.

The superb hosts had to wait until the 66th minute to take the lead, when Romain Saiss headed home Joao Moutinho's corner.

And on 80 minutes they deservedly doubled their advantage when the brilliant Raul Jimenez finished from close range via another Moutinho set piece.

Jimenez put the icing on the cake when he chipped over Fabianski for a late third, from Diogo Jota's pass.

Analysis

You'd have to go a long way to find a more dominant Wolves performance than this.

Nuno Espirito Santo's team were, in every aspect, supremely better than West Ham United, a team which came into the table just a point below them, writes Tim Spiers at Molineux.

It eclipsed the 1-0 'shellacking' of Burnley back in September for two reasons; 1) West Ham represent, in theory, far superior opposition and 2) They turned their dominance into goals. Three of them – and it could have been so many more. They toyed with West Ham, they humiliated them. It was wonderful to witness.

Their passing was slick, their movement rapid, their persistent relentless and their defending, well, perfect. Rui Patricio could have spent the night counting how many were in the crowd.

Wolves have only ever been plucky underdogs in the Premier League, battling against survival.

Now they have, when in full flow, a Rolls Royce of a team, beautiful to watch but with the substance to back up their style.

They were, quite sensational, enchanting, captivating and stunning. Everyone played their part, from the string-pulling midfielders to the rampaging wing-backs and the creative and harassing front-men. West Ham;s defenders will have nightmares about the trickery of Diogo Jota and the, well, peerless Raul Jimenez who gave a forward masterclass by creating a hatful of chances and scoring two goals to take his tally to 10 for the season. What a combination he and Jota are. They're Wolves' lethal weapon.

Wolves came into their three-game period against Leicester, the Hammers and Everton hoping to put down a marker for seventh place.

Two games in, they've done just that. And with high hopes of an FA Cup run, there's every chance this could end up as a quite unforgettable campaign.

January transfer window? Who needs it.

Match report

The team showed one change from the XI that beat Leicester City 4-3 in the Premier League, with Matt Doherty coming in for the benched Ruben Vinagre.

Marko Arnautovic started for West Ham – his first appearance since almost leaving for a big-money move to China (and then signing a big-money contract to stay).

The Hammers came into the game on the back of a chastening FA Cup exit to AFC Wimbledon.

Their boss Manuel Pellegrini had called for a reaction from his team – but in a first half dominated by Wolves he certainly didn't get one.

Nuno's team have endured a few sluggish first halves in this campaign, scoring precious few goals, but there was (almost) absolutely nothing wrong with the first 45 minutes they produced against the Hammers.

After settling early on, Wolves began to prise the visitors open in the final third and could feel aggrieved not to be ahead by the break.

Raul Jimenez was at his play-linking best, Diogo Jota was an incessantly positive presence, the two wing-backs provided attacking vigour, Leander Dendoncker regularly popped up in the box and Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves pulled the strings.

Eleven shots to two told a story, but there was also a very strong penalty appeal rejected after Doherty had tangled legs with Arthur Masuaku who appeared to bring him down. They also had the ball in the net via Dendoncker's rebound after Jimenez turned a Jonny cross on to the bar, but the Mexican was correctly flagged offside.

The best chances came via a rampaging Doherty – whose effort from a tight angle was blocked by Lukasz Fabianski – Dendoncker, whose free close-range shot from Doherty's cross wasn't forceful enough and Otto, whose diving header from a perfect Jimenez centre whistled past the post with Fabianski motionless.

The lively Jota, full of confidence, also tested Fabianski with a low 20-yarder. His link-up play with Jimenez was a joy to watch at times.

At the other end Rui Patricio had barely a thing to do. West Ham enjoyed a couple of bright spells of possession in the Wolves third, but sorely lacked a final ball of note.

Danger-man Arnautovic also had little impact. One misplaced pass from the Austrian saw the South Bank advise him that he should have gone to China.

At a freezing cold Molineux it was a Wolves performance to warm the home fans up. They did everything right except score.

Nuno's team continued the second half in the same manner. Backed by a vociferous home crowd who sang "Nuno Santo's barmy army" for the first 15 minutes of the half, they probed away at the Hammers with Neves at the heart of almost everything.

Twice in a minute they tested Fabianski, with Jota and then Romain Saiss trying their luck from the left of the box, but the powerful strikes lacked the accuracy to seriously trouble the Polish keeper.

Wolves were in complete control and West Ham were offering absolutely nothing going forward, but with 65 minutes gone it remained goalless.

Jonny again went close to breaking the deadlock, taking Jota's pass and forcing a fingertip save from Fabianski.

It was an increasingly frustrating night in front of goal – but then, finally, from the resulting corner Wolves took the lead.

Moutinho swung in a perfect inswinging corner and Saiss edged ahead of his man to place a well controlled header into the corner. He didn't even have to jump.

Manuel Pellegrini reacted by sending on Andy Carroll and Pedro Obiang, but it was Wolves who continued to dominate.

They had another excellent shout for a penalty turned down a few minutes later. Jota was played in by Jimenez, Pablo Zabaleta appeared to push him before winning the ball – despite Wolves howling loudly for a spot kick, referee Coote awarded a corner to the indignation of the home bench and 28,000 fans.

Wolves persevered and the magnificent Jimenez almost slid in Doherty for a second, but the Irishman couldn't quite get there and instead clattered into Fabianski who required treatment.

Then on 80 minutes came the goal Wolves' vast superiority merited. Again it came via a Moutinho set piece, with an inswinging free kicik turned in by Jimenez who marked an exceptional display with his ninth goal of the campaign in all competitions.

There was time for a third goal to cap it all off. Jimenez took Jota's pass and sublimely chipped over Fabianski to seal a magnificent individual display and put the icing on the delicious Wolves cake.

Key moments

31- Wolves should be 1-0 up! A perfectly-placed cross from Jimenez falls to Otto at the far post, but he heads the ball back across Fabianski and inches wide.

36 - Offside! Wolves think they have scored, but the flag is up! Otto returns the favour by playing a fantastic low cross to Jimenez, who flicks the ball onto the crossbar. Dendoncker then heads home, but the assistant had already signalled against the Mexican.

66 - GOOOOAALLLL! Wolves finally find an opener! Otto's strike is palmed out by Fabianski for a corner. From that, Moutinho swings the ball in and Saiss, without even having to jump, guides the ball home with his head.

70 - There are massive appeals for a Wolves penalty, but referee David Coote ignores them. Zabaleta nudges over Jota as he is about to shoot from close range, and Nuno is incensed with Coote's decision not to award a spot-kick.

80 - GOAAAALLLLL! The hosts double their lead. Moutinho's inswinging free-kick is expertly turned in by Jimenez, for his ninth goal of the campaign in all competitions.

86 - GOAAAALLLLLLL! Jimenez caps off a superb performance with his second of the night, and 10th of the term, coolly chipping the ball over the onrushing Fabianski after being put through by Jota. Such a composed, confident finish.

Teams

Wolves (3-5-2): Patricio; Bennett, Coady (c), Saiss; Doherty, Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho (Gibbs-White, 88), Otto (Vinagre, 90); Jimenez, Jota (Cavaleiro, 88)

Subs not used: Ruddy (gk), Kilman, Costa, Traore

Goals: Saiss (66), Jimenez (80, 86)

West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Zabaleta, Diop, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Noble (c) (Carroll, 68), Rice; Snodgrass (Obiang, 68), Anderson, Antonio; Arnautovic (Hernandez, 77)

Subs not used: Adrian (gk), Fredericks, Coventry, Diangana

Attendance: 31,122 (2,877 West Ham fans)

Referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire)

League position

7th (35 points from 24 matches) currently 32 after 23

Next up

Wolves travel to face Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday, kick off is at 3pm.