Wolves suffered a bad day at the office on Sunday evening as West Ham United hit four goals without reply and inflicted back-to-back defeats on Nuno Espirito Santo’s side. A Jarrod Bowen brace was added to by Tomas Soucek and Sebastien Haller headers, while at the other end, Wolves left Lukasz Fabianksi relatively untroubled.
Bowen opened the scoring on 17 minutes by curling home and added his and United’s second by tapping in after Pablo Fornals had struck the post. Soucek added a third when his header ricocheted off Raul Jimenez on its way into the Wolves net, before Haller headed home at the death.
Ruben Neves hit the best of his side’s chances at Fabianksi with the score at 1-0, but in truth, Wolves failed to create much in the way of clear-cut chances and will want to dust themselves off quickly and respond accordingly against Fulham next weekend.
The London Stadium had previously proved a happy hunting ground for Wolves, who’d won on their previous two visits under Nuno, but a first conceded goal against the Hammers in the Premier League since 2011 instantly made Sunday evening’s task a tougher one.
There’d been little to choose between the two sides before Fornals’ quickly taken free-kick freed Bowen down the right and the wide man cut in on his left foot, before curling into the bottom corner, beyond Rui Patricio’s dive.
The early damage could have been worse too, as Michail Antonio curled into the arms of Patricio and the stopper kept out Soucek’s deft effort. Then, after Pedro Neto had threatened for the visitors, Patricio again denied Soucek, this time producing a strong arm to keep out his downward header.
There’d be no further goals in the opening period, but both sides did squander good openings each. First, after Patricio had again parried Antonio’s shot, Fornals blazed over with the goal gaping. Then, after Joao Moutinho’s pass was left by Jimenez, Neves had a sight of goal, but his effort curled too close to Fabianski.
Half-time: West Ham 1-0 Wolves
While West Ham had wasted opportunities to further extend their lead before the break, they weren’t so generous after it, and had their second before the hour-mark. Antonio again caused problems down the left, he found Fornals, whose daisy cutter bounced back off the post and perfectly for Bowen to tap home.
In need of a goal, Nuno soon took action and introduced Fabio Silva in place of Adama Traore. But things went from bad to worse soon after, as Soucek’s flick from a Bowen corner diverted off the chest of Jimenez and beyond Patricio.
Three down, Nuno threw on Ki-Jana Hoever into the action for his debut, replacing Semedo, while Vitinha came on for Moutinho. Their introductions did little to alter the pattern of play however, with Neto firing over in the closing stages, before Haller headed in at the back post to compound Wolves’ misery.
Full-time: West Ham 4-0 Wolves
West Ham: Fabianski, Fredericks (Johnson 49), Balbuena, Ogbonna, Ceresswell, Rice, Soucek, Masuaku, Fornals, Bowen (Noble 88), Antonio (Haller 88).
Unused subs: Randolph, Lanzini, Anderson, Yarmolenko.
Wolves: Patricio, Semedo (Hoever73), Boly, Coady, Saiss, Vinagre, Neves, Moutinho (Vitinha 73), Neto, Traore (Silva 62), Jimenez.
Unused sub: Ruddy, Kilman, Dendoncker, Shabani.
