WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Premier League, Molineux, Saturday 6 April 2024, 3pm BST
The only current Premier League club managed by a former West Ham United player in Gary O’Neil, Wolverhampton Wanderers have somewhat confounded expectations this season.
Wolves finished the previous campaign under former Real Madrid, Spain and Sevilla head coach Julen Lopetegui in 13th – one place above the Hammers – but collected just 41 points and scored just 31 goals in 38 matches.
Under ex-AFC Bournemouth boss O’Neil, Wolves have already matched that points tally and comfortably eclipsed that goalscoring output and came out of the March international break ninth in the Premier League table.
Wolves’ much-improved attacking statistics have been spearheaded by the trio of Brazil forward Matheus Cunha, South Korea star Hwang Hee-chan and Portugal international Pedro Neto.
Behind them, former Hammer Craig Dawson has been as reliable as ever in defence, while Mario Lemina has added welcome steel to the midfield.
A late FA Cup quarter-final collapse against Coventry City aside, Wolves supporters will be delighted with the progress being made at Molineux.
How to get there…
Driving to Molineux is fairly simple, but parking in the vicinity of the ground is less so, with most of the nearby car parks restricted to players, officials and permit holders on matchdays.
If you do want to drive, head up the M1 and then take the M6 to junction 10. From there take the A454 via Willenhall to Wolverhampton Ring Road.
At the first roundabout, take the fourth exit (A449 to Stafford), go straight on at the next two sets of traffic lights, then filter right at the third set of lights into Waterloo Road. Molineux appears on the right.
Car parks are available in Birch Street (WV1 4JW), Redhill Street (WV1 1NR) and Whitmore Hill (WV1 4RU). To book a parking pass contact the Ticket Office on 0371 222 1877.
Trains leave London regularly for Wolverhampton, with direct services from Euston leaving at 08.40, 09.16, 10.16 and 11.16, arriving around two hours later. Alternatively, you can change at Stafford, with a slightly faster overall journey time.
From Wolverhampton station, it’s only a ten-minute walk to Molineux.
After the game, direct trains back to London leave Wolverhampton at 17.45 and 18.45, or 17.15 and 18.15 via Birmingham New Street, or 17.32 and 18.32 via Stafford.
Where to stay…
If you want to make a weekend, or at least a Saturday night, of it, Wolverhampton is a sizeable city with plenty of places to stay.
Unsurprisingly, the city centre itself has the usual budget chain options, plus a range of more upmarket hotels.
What to do…
As the second-largest settlement in what is known as the West Midlands Conurbation (Birmingham is the largest), Wolverhampton is a city with plenty of attractions to keep you occupied.
Named after an Anglo-Saxon noble woman named Wulfrun, who founded the city in 985, there has been a settlement where modern-day Wolverhampton lies since the seventh century.
More recently, Wolverhampton grew rapidly during the 1800s following the discovery of coal and iron deposits in the area.
The National Trust-owned Wickwight Manor (pictured) was built in the 1880s to house the family of local industrialist Theodore Mander, and is now the top-ranked tourist attraction in the city, and home to an extensive art collection. It is situated three miles north of the city centre.
For families heading to Molineux, the Wild Zoological Park is situated in nearby Bobbington (DY7 5EP) and is home to dozens of species of reptiles, insects, mammals, primates and more.
What’s happened there before…
Molineux has not been a particularly pleasant place to visit for West Ham United, with the Hammers scoring just one win in their six most-recent Premier League visits.
That victory was a valuable one, though, as Jesse Lingard ran the show in a 3-2 success in April 2021 that helped the Irons secure European qualification at the end of that season.
Prior to that you have to go back to August 2009 and our first-ever Premier League meeting, when Matthew Upson and Mark Noble scored in a 2-0 victory.
Otherwise, Wolves have won on four of our five other visits to WV1.
Looking back through the history books, our biggest-ever win there was a 5-1 FA Cup second-round victory in our first-ever meeting with Wolves on 5 February 1910.
Our best League win at Molineux was a 4-1 Second Division success on 16 December 1922.
We have beaten Wolves 5-0 twice in the top-flight, on both occasions at the Boleyn Ground, on 20 August 1960 and 7 September 1964.
