Wolves 1 (Sarabia PEN 32) West Ham United 2 (Paqueta 73 PEN, Ward-Prowse 84)
Late VAR drama saw Wolves come out empty handed from their Premier League clash with West Ham United at Molineux as Maximilian’s Kilman’s injury time header was ruled out.
Gary O’Neil’s side had taken the lead in a first half where the Old Gold were completely dominant, and went ahead deservedly when Pablo Sarabia netted from the penalty spot. But West Ham came out a different side after the break and found themselves two up following another penalty which was dispatched by Lucas Paqueta before James Ward-Prowse scored direct from a corner.
Then the drama followed in the eighth minute of added time. Wolves thought they had taken a point from the contest when Kilman rose highest in the box and headed into the far corner of the net, but after VAR review, the goal was disallowed for offside after the referee judged the West Ham goalkeeper’s view was impeded.
With a change in their front three seeing Rayan Ait-Nouri moved over to the right, Tommy Doyle brought onto the left and Sarabia playing down the middle, it appeared to be an inspired decision by O’Neil as his side dominated the entire first half at Molineux.
Playing on the right allowed Ait-Nouri to use his pace to cut inside and have shots on his favoured left, and that’s where the first chance of the game fell with the Algerian just unable to keep a powerful effort from going over Lucasz Fabianski’s crossbar.
West Ham’s only chance of the first half fell the way of Tomas Soucek after a mistake from Nelson Semedo at the back for Wolves. Trying to dribble his way out of trouble, the defender lost possession to Jarrod Bowen who laid the ball on a plate for his teammate, but six yards out and with the goal at his mercy, Soucek was unable to control the ball allowing Joao Gomes the chance to get back and clear the danger.
Wolves began to regain composure after that chance, with Sarabia pulling a save from Fabianski having been found by Semedo inside the box, before Doyle tested the keeper’s gloves with a smart stop down to his right.
After trying to beat Fabianski from long range, with Doyle and Lemina stinging his gloves, Wolves finally made the breakthrough just after the half-hour mark. The front three combined neatly to set Ait-Nouri away and into the box, and after he dragged the ball back, Emerson dived in and took out the wingers legs to concede a penalty.
Sarabia stepped up to the mark from 12 yards out to dispatch the spotkick. Although Fabianski dived the right way, the keeper was unable to get a hand to the ball as the Spaniard placed the ball out of his reach and into the net off the right post.
The West Ham keeper continued to be the busier of the two goalies as he stopped Gomes from distance before pulling a good save to deny Sarabia from his second of the afternoon after the forward curled a free-kick over the wall and towards the top corner, but Fabianski gathered the ball with both hands.
Half-time | Wolves 1-0 West Ham
However good Wolves were in the first-half, the game turned in West Ham’s favour following the break, with the Old Gold being the victims of their own downfall.
The introduction of Michail Antonio at the break gave the Hammers a focal point they were missing in the opening 45 minutes, as the Jamaican international put the Wolves defence under plenty of pressure, allowing his teammates to take advantage.
Firstly, Mohammed Kudus found space just outside the box, but after turning Sarabia, he could only fire high into the North Bank. Then Matt Doherty had to twice head away danger to deny Ward-Prowse from a free-kick and then from the resulting corner.
Just after the hour mark, West Ham had the ball in the Wolves net after Emerson headed in at the far post, but the goal was ruled out by the referee after a foul on Semedo in the build-up. But just moments later, West Ham got themselves level.
Wolves were at sixes and sevens in defence as they offered possession back to the visitors and they were made to pay when a cross struck the arm of Kilman and the referee pointed to the spot. Lucas Paqueta stepped up and found the same bottom corner as Sarabia had in the first half.
It was West Ham who were pushing for the third goal of the afternoon as Sa had to be alert to stop Ben Johnson’s effort, before Doherty stopped Kudus from putting the ball into an empty net after the winger had taken the ball around the Wolves keeper.
But five minutes from time, the Hammers had their second. Direct from a corner, Ward-Prowse curled the ball through the crowded Wolves penalty area, over Sa’s head and inside the far post, with the gold shirts not being able to get anywhere near it.
However, there was late drama at Molineux as Wolves thought they had equalised in the eighth of ten added minutes. Another corner looked to have done the damage after Kilman was found inside the box, with the skipper directing the ball beyond Fabianski.
But the effort was disallowed after a lengthy VAR check which saw referee Tony Harrington sent to the screen and he adjudged Tawanda Chirewa was in an offside position after being stood in front of the keeper. The goal was ruled out, handing all three points to the visitors.
Full-time | Wolves 1-2 West Ham
Wolves | Sa, Semedo Kilman, S. Bueno, Toti, Doherty (H. Bueno 87), Gomes, M. Lemina (Traore 75), Doyle (Chirewa 87), Ait-Nouri (Cunha 55), Sarabia (Chiwome 75).
Unused subs | Bentley, Dawson, N. Lemina, Fraser.
West Ham | Fabianski, Coufal (Johnson 45), Zouma, Mavropanos, Emerson, Ward-Prowse, Alvarez, Soucek (Antonio 45), Paqueta, Bowen (Cresswell 55), Kudus.
Unused subs | Anang, Aguerd, Ogbonna, Phillips, Cornet, Ings.
Referee | Tony Harrington
