West Ham 3 Wolves 0 - Report

In a first half that they never really got a foothold in, Mohammed Kudus was giving the Wolves defence nightmares down the right flank as he swept home his first after 22 minutes.

Just 10 minutes later he made it 2-0 to cap off a Hammers counter-attack from a Wolves corner, to leave the visitors with a mountain to climb.

Wolves improved in the second half and saw a goal chalked off by VAR, before West Ham made sure of the three points with a well-worked move, finished off by Jarrod Bowen.

Analysis

Gary O’Neil made two changes from the team that drew with Nottingham Forest, as he switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Dan Bentley returned between the sticks as Jose Sa missed out on the squad altogether with a shoulder injury, while Jean-Ricner Bellegarde came in for Hugo Bueno.

David Moyes made just one change to his Hammers side, who started in a 4-3-3 formation. Kurt Zouma came in for Konstantinos Mavropanos.

The hosts started well and had an opening when Bowen played in Emerson, but Mario Lemina tracked back well to steal the ball in the box. From two resulting corners, Zouma came close with headers.

Wolves were under some early pressure but once they settled, they found some counter-attacking opportunities. An opening saw Matheus Cunha take aim from a tight angle, but it was an easy save for Lukasz Fabianski.

After 22 minutes, the Hammers took the lead, and it all came from a Wolves corner. Craig Dawson flicked it on and Mario Lemina was close to reaching it at the back post, before Bellegarde lost it on the edge of the box. West Ham countered and Nelson Semedo backed off Kudus, who cut inside and found the bottom corner with his effort. Bentley should also have done better with the shot.

Wolves almost responded quickly when an excellent Joao Gomes tackle put them on the front foot, before Cunha had a shot from distance saved.

But just 10 minutes after the opening goal, it went from bad to worse for Wolves. Lemina’s pass in midfield was intercepted and the ball was worked to Lucas Paqueta. With Toti Gomes out of position, one Paqueta pass opened up the Wolves defence and Kudus was in, before sweeping home.

Gomes then gave the ball away so cheaply in midfield and it led to Bowen hitting the inside of the post with a good effort, before Wolves entered half-time deservedly losing 2-0.

Wolves had slightly more control at the start of the second half, but they were playing a Hammers side cruising in first gear.

A chance did arrive for Bellegarde but he failed to shoot before finding Hwang Hee-chan, who had a shot blocked.

Wolves put together a superb free-flowing move that included several players and ended with Semedo playing a lovely ball in for Pablo Sarabia to score. But a long VAR check disallowed the goal for offside.

O’Neil’s side were enjoying more possession in West Ham’s final third but were struggling to break down a stubborn defence, as they brought on Rayan Ait-Nouri after 70 minutes for his injury comeback, in the hope of finding a way through.

For all of Wolves’ improvement in the second half, it was wasted when they handed the Hammers a third goal after 74 minutes. Cunha lost the ball in midfield and a one-two pass between Paqueta and Bowen saw the latter racing away from Dawson, before finding the bottom corner with a fairly tame shot.

James Ward-Prowse came close to adding a third directly from a free-kick, as his effort flew just past the post. Moments later, Emerson put in a good cross that Bowen was close to reaching.

The Hammers were putting the pressure on to add some more gloss to their dominant win and thought Paqueta was through on goal, only for Max Kilman to make a wonderful recovery tackle.

The away end was understandably emptying before full-time with Wolves putting in an uninspiring display as the game fizzled out to a concerning 3-0 defeat.

Key Moments

GOAL 22 Kudus puts West Ham ahead

GOAL 32 Kudus adds a second

GOAL 74 Bowen makes it 3-0

Teams

Wolves: Bentley, Semedo (Doherty, 79), Dawson, Kilman, Toti (Ait-Nouri, 70), Lemina (Doyle, 79), Gomes, Bellegarde, Sarabia, Hwang, Cunha.

Subs not used: King, S.Bueno, H.Bueno, Traore, Silva, Kalajdzic.

West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal (Kehrer, 91), Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Soucek, Alvarez (Fornals, 70), Ward-Prowse, Kudus (Ings, 86), Bowen, Paqueta (Mubama, 86).

Subs not used: Areola, Mavropanos, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Benrahma.