West Ham United 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Premier League, London Stadium, Monday 9 December 2024, 8pm GMT
On a night when West Ham United showed their support for Michail Antonio, it was two of the No9’s long-time teammates who fired the Irons to a vital Premier League win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
While Antonio recovers in hospital from surgery on a lower limb fracture suffered in a road traffic accident on Saturday, his fellow UEFA Europa Conference League heroes Tomáš Souček and Jarrod Bowen got the goals in a 2-1 victory at London Stadium. In between, Matt Doherty scored for Wolves, but the Hammers showed the resolve and desire required to secure all three points.
Both players celebrated their second-half goals by paying tribute to Antonio, while the whole squad warmed-up and walked out in shirts bearing the striker’s name and number, and the Claret and Blue Army repeatedly sang his name, too.
When the action got underway, the first half, as it was at Leicester City six nights previously, was a frustrating one from a West Ham point of view. While they were not as dominant as they were at King Power Stadium, the Irons still created 12 goal attempts, won nine corners and had over 57% of possession, but walked off at the break with nothing to show for their efforts.
At the same time, they did not concede, although João Gomes should have found the net from Doherty’s dipping right-wing cross just past the half-hour mark. Instead, the Brazilian fired wide of the far post from six yards out.
Earlier, Wolves captain Mario Lemina had curled high and wide and Gomes fired straight at Łukasz Fabiański, while Cunha tested the Polish goalkeeper at his near post and, after Gomes’s big miss, Mavropanos and Maximilian Kilman made blocks from Rayan Aït-Nouri and Nélson Semedo.
West Ham’s chances were more regular, but rarely clear-cut, although Sam Johnstone did make three important saves.
Mavropanos saw a volley blocked by Toti, Kilman headed straight into the Wolves defender, Bowen’s low shot was kept out by fellow England international Johnstone and Carlos Soler’s likewise by a sliding Aït-Nouri.
Mohammed Kudus’s curler almost caught out the Wolves goalkeeper, as did Crysencio Summerville’s corner, then Mavropanos slipped at the vital moment and sliced over, and finally Summerville headed Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s deep cross past the far post.
The frustration was lifted nine minutes into the second half when West Ham’s tenth corner – won by Wan-Bissaka off Toti – led directly to the hosts’ first goal, as Bowen’s delivery beyond the far post was nodded back over the crowd inside the six-yard box and under the crossbar by Souček.
Six minutes later, Kudus netted clinically from Bowen’s pass, only for a review by VAR Andrew Madley to rule the strike out for offside against the Ghanaian.
Gary O’Neil reacted by making two changes and it was not long before one of his two substitutes, Gonçalo Guedes, went down under a challenge from Emerson, but referee John Brooks waved away Wolves’ penalty appeals, and VAR Madley did not call for a pitchside check.
Within a minute, though, Wolves were level when Aït-Nouri crossed from the left and Doherty slid in and fired low past Fabiański with his left foot.
Talking of left feet, within three minutes, Bowen had collected from Kudus on the corner of the penalty area, cut inside and curled past Johnstone into the bottom left-hand corner.
Having got in front for a second time, West Ham appeared to have learned their lesson and raised their intensity levels, but Wolves did not give up, as Guedes and Nélson Semedo forced Fabiański into smart saves, then substitute Tommy Doyle fired over, before another VAR review by Madley denied Wolves a penalty for Mavropanos’s challenge on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, and the assistant’s flag chalked off another Kudus goal for offside at the other end.
Bellegarde wasted two late chances and West Ham were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief at Brooks’s final whistle. It was not the prettiest of wins, but one which takes Julen Lopetegui’s team onto 18 points, nine ahead of their opponents and Ipswich Town in the relegation zone.
West Ham United: Fabiański, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson (Cresswell 88), Soler (Paquetá 64), Souček, Álvarez (Todibo 88), Kudus (Rodríguez 87), Summerville (Ings 73), Bowen ©
Subs not used: Areola (GK), Coufal, Luis Guilherme, Füllkrug
Goals: Souček 54, Bowen 72
Booked: Emerson, Soler, Fabiański, Rodríguez, Bowen
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Johnstone, Doherty, Semedo, Toti, Bueno, Aït-Nouri, Lemina ©, André (Bellegarde 62), J.Gomes (Doyle 78), Cunha, Strand Larsen (Guedes 62)
Subs not used: Bentley (GK), Dawson, R.Gomes, Hwang, Forbs, Lima
Goal: Doherty 69
Booked: Cunha, Doherty, Gomes, Lemina
Referee: John Brooks
Attendance: 62,435
