That’s all from me. Thanks for reading and for your emails. Congratulations to West Ham.
Cheers. Until next time!
Updated
They are showing replays of Soucek’s goal from the corner. There is a sneaky block from Kilman to stop Lemina from marking the big Czech midfielder. Not a foul, just a cunning set-piece.
Soucek, West Ham goalscorer tonight, speaks to the Sky cameras:
That goal was for Micky [Antonio]. He was here before I came here, and he’s my favourite. I thought it would be difficult for me to play.
It was really tough. I was just with the kids when I heard and I saw the message on my phone. I was so scared. It was a really tough week for him and his family. We had a video call with him an hour before the game. He smiled and he gave us all the best. I can’t wait to visit him.
He’s so funny and he even did a few jokes. He’s probably one of the best players West Ham have. It was great we saw him. I wish him all the best. Hopefully he will be even better soon.
That is a very moving interview, heartfelt and articulate. They are obviously close.
Jacob Steinberg's match report
This was the xG, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
West Ham 1.01
Wolves 1.63.
Based upon that, and those refereeing decisions, Wolves are unlucky not to get anything tonight.
I would also say that Wolves were unlucky with a few decisions tonight. They had two strong shouts for a penalty – with Guedes and Bellegarde going down inside West Ham’s area – while West Ham’s second goal was given despite a fairly blatant foul by Mavropanos in the build-up.
It’s worth noting that if West Ham’s Emerson had been penalised for his challenge on Guedes, he may well have been shown a second yellow card. And then the scores would have been level, with West Ham down to 10 men.
If O’Neil does stay in charge – and it’s a big if – there are two very winnable games coming up for Wolves. A home game on Saturday against Ipswich and then a trip to Leicester on the 22nd December.
This is what that result does to the table. It makes for grim reading for Wolves. West Ham are 14th, but remarkably just seven points from fifth place!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 14 | 18 | 35 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 15 | 17 | 31 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 15 | 14 | 29 |
| 4 | Man City | 15 | 6 | 27 |
| 5 | Nottm Forest | 15 | 1 | 25 |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 15 | 0 | 25 |
| 7 | Brighton | 15 | 3 | 24 |
| 8 | AFC Bournemouth | 15 | 3 | 24 |
| 9 | Brentford | 15 | 3 | 23 |
| 10 | Fulham | 15 | 2 | 23 |
| 11 | Tottenham Hotspur | 15 | 12 | 20 |
| 12 | Newcastle | 15 | -2 | 20 |
| 13 | Man Utd | 15 | 1 | 19 |
| 14 | West Ham | 15 | -8 | 18 |
| 15 | Everton | 14 | -7 | 14 |
| 16 | Leicester | 15 | -9 | 14 |
| 17 | Crystal Palace | 15 | -6 | 13 |
| 18 | Ipswich | 15 | -13 | 9 |
| 19 | Wolverhampton | 15 | -15 | 9 |
| 20 | Southampton | 15 | -20 | 5 |
Lemina remains absolutely furious and is still storming around the pitch as Toti and West Ham’s Todibo try to calm him. O’Neil diligently applauds the away fans. Does he look a little tearful? Hard to say. He might just be exhausted. Either way, the Wolves manager needs a cup of tea.
Updated
There are a few handbags after the final whistle as Lemina clashes with Bowen. I think the West Ham player was annoyed he didn’t get a handshake from Lemina. Players from both sides rush to intervene after a little tussle and I think the referee gives a yellow card to each player.
Updated
Full-time: West Ham 2-1 Wolves
A huge win for Lopetegui! And a damning defeat for O’Neil. Wolves remain 19th. Eeeeeesh.
90+8 min: Back come Wolves, but it’s just a hopeful cross into West Ham’s box, and Bellegarde pokes wide an effort on goal. That might be that.
90+7 min: The camera pans to the Wolves fans. There are some glum faces out there in the cold.
90+6 min: West Ham sub Rodríguez is harshly carded for a challenge on Semedo. A chance for Wolves to pack the box. Doyle crosses but Lemina fails to connect properly with his header.
90+4 min: Fabianski is the latest to be cautioned, this time for time wasting. The West Ham keeper was loitering over a free-kick.
Updated
90+3 min: West Ham eat up the minutes with some bitty play, resulting in a free kick to the home side. Cresswell, playing his 299th game for the Hammers, whips in a cross for Soucek, who heads wide.
90 min: Eight minutes added on! Groans go around the stadium, and Lopetegui wears a face of utter disgust at the fourth official.
88 min: More substitutions.
West Ham make three subs: Todibo for Alvaraz, which means West Ham are going to a five at the back. Rodríguez for Kudus. Cresswell for Emerson, who was booked.
Wolves bring on Rodrigo Gomes for Ait Nouri.
GOAL DISALLOWED FOR WEST HAM
85 min: An obvious offside decision against Kudus, who stuck the ball into Wolves’ net regardless. But the pass from Ings that set up the chance was absolutely sublime! An outrageous backheel that cut straight through the Wolves defence to finds Kudus. A sort of east London poundshop version of this assist from Guti to find Zidane.
Legends doing legendary things!@GUTY14HAZ 👌 Zidane #RealMadridSevillaFC pic.twitter.com/FD7zgfmdnn
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) January 18, 2019
Penalty shout for Wolves!
83 min: Emerson gives the ball away on the half-way line and Wolves spring forward again with Bellegarde, who drives a full 50 yards with the ball into West Ham’s penalty area on the counter attack. The Frenchman is initially held up by Mavropanos, who then rather clumsily treads on Bellegarde’s foot, causing the Wolves man to go down in the area. Mavropanos gets none of the ball and makes contact. It’s soft, but we have seen countless penalties given for that sort of tackle this season. Once again, West Ham are very lucky to escape there!
Updated
80 min: Wolves are definitely not out of this. Scoring has not been their problem this season, and once again they flood forward in numbers. Cunha does well to find Lemina, who sidefoots a strong shot at goal, but Fabianski reads it well. There is some nervous energy in the stadium, though. West Ham haven’t won here since beating Manchester United in October.
Updated
78 min: Both sides make changes. West Ham bring on Ings for Summerville, a surprising change perhaps. Wolves bring on Doyle for João Gomes, who had been booked and looked like he was losing his rag a bit.
75 min: In a further blow to Wolves, it does look like Mavropanos made a fairly blatant foul in the build-up to that second West Ham goal. But the referee and VAR missed it.
Kudus wriggles and turns, lays a ball back to Bowen on the edge of Wolves’ area. Bowen sends Guedes to the shops with a fake shot, somehow finds some room, and curls a textbook finish into the far corner! Classic Bowen, that. It’s 2-1!
Updated
GOAL! West Ham 2-1 Wolves (Bowen 72)
The Hammers are straight back in front! Wow!
A sensational goal, and fair play to Wolves, who did not linger on that penalty shout that got away from them. Johnstone finds Guedes on the left wing with a brilliant diagonal pass, he finds Ait Nouri. The Algeria international sends an excellent cross into the box, and Doherty volleys a finish past Fabianski on the slide. He almost tackled it into the net!
GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Wolves (Doherty 70)
The visitors are level!
Updated
68 min: Biiiiiiiiiig penalty shout for Wolves! Ooooooooh, Emerson is lucky to get away with a very clumsy tackle on Guedes, who was racing through on goal. Emersen certainly made contact with Guedes, who fell just inside the West Ham area. But VAR check the incident and there’s no foul. O’Neil is incensed!
Updated
66 min: Certainly a bit more pep in Wolves’ step now! They have a renewed sense of purpose with those subs.
64 min: João Gomes is the latest to be cautioned for Wolves, sliding in late on Summerville.
62 min: A lucky break for Wolves, and O’Neil is not hanging about now. He makes two changes with Bellegarde and Gonçalo Guedes coming on for Larsen and Andre.
West Ham also make a change, with Paqueta on for Soler, who had been booked. That’s a straight swap.
WEST HAM GOAL DISALLOWED!
60 min: Bowen is – inexplicably – given the freedom of the Wolves area, before the forward beats Doherty with a drop of the shoulder. Bowen then hits a cross-shot to the back post, where Kudus taps in from close range! But after the goal is initially given, VAR rules it out. We stay at 1-0!
Updated
58 min: Replays are being shown of the passage of play leading up to that West Ham corner. It appears that it should never have been a West Ham corner at all, with Wan-Bissaka getting the last touch in a challenge with Lemina. That will sting for O’Neil, but it wasn’t immediately obvious in full speed.
56 min: Cunha, who has been beneath his usual high standards tonight, runs out of options as he comes forward for Wolves, and fires a tired shot high and wide. This is not pretty viewing for the away fans.
This is such a cheap goal for Wolves to concede! It’s not a particularly enterprising corner from West Ham, with Bowen swinging a deep cross towards the back post. Soucek, West Ham’s biggest player, is completely unmarked and loops a header back over Johnstone’s head and into the far corner. Soucek holds up nine fingers in celebration, for Antonio (who wears No 9 for West Ham). One-nil! A massive goal.
Updated
GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Wolves (Soucek 53)
West Ham score with their 10th corner of the game! You can’t say Wolves were not warned.
51 min: Soler is next to be yellow carded, needlessly kicking the ball away after a cheap free kick. Silly.
49 min: Thirty seconds later, Doherty goes through the back of Summerville and – finally – into the book.
48 min: Doherty has already gone through Summerville on a few occasions and is incredibly lucky not to be booked for a clumsy lunge on Alvarez in midfield. Not quite sure how he’s avoided a caution, there.
46 min: A really good chance for Wolves, wasted! Ait Nouri gets free on the left and only needs to cross for an unmarked Doherty at the back post, but the Algeria international overcooks his cross! Ooooooooh, that should have been an easy tap in at the back stick.
Peeeeeeeep! We’re off again in east London. No changes made from either side. I suspect it won’t stay like that for long.
Half-time reading:
Half-time: West Ham 0-0 Wolves
Ignore the score, this has been a lively half.
45+1 min: A brief scramble in West Ham’s box is dangerous for the home side with Lemina and Doherty trying to force the ball towards Fabianski’s net, but the ball breaks to Summerville, who sprints up the field on the counter attack, only to be completely upended by Cunha just inside West Ham’s half. A blatant yellow. I am fairly certain that Summerville did a somersault there, such was the speed he was moving.
45 min: Yellow card for Emerson, the first booking of the game. He was late on Doherty. One minute added on here.
Updated
43 min: Lemina has his pocket picked by Kudus, but Toti does remarkably well to stop the Ghanaian from getting a shot at goal. Excellent defending.
41 min: O’Neil is grimacing in the Wolves dugout. He’ll be desperate to get to half-time without conceding. Those teeth are quite something. I hope they are not stained by the tea.
39 min: Wolves do carry a threat on the counter, and get forward in good numbers here. Ait Nouri and Semedo both try their luck from the edge of the area, but Kilman and Emerson get good blocks in.
36 min: West Ham are peppering the Wolves area with crosses. There have been 16 of them so far, including nine corners. A penny for Fullkrug’s thoughts, on the West Ham bench. The German is deadly in the air.
34 min: How is this still goalless?! West Ham come roaring back and have two opportunities to break the deadlock. Kudus’ snapshot comes through a sea of bodies, with Johnstone palming it wide, just out of the reach of Soucek. Next, West Ham whip in their seventh corner of the match: there is a handy knock down at the back post, and Mavropanos has a free swipe at goal, just eight yards out, but the Greek spoons it over!
31 min: Huge miss for Wolves! Larsen turns nicely and finds Doherty wide on the right. The Irishman crosses to the far post, Gomes is free … but the Brazilian skews it wide! It was easier to score! Alvarez maybe put Gomes off, he was right on the Wolves man’s shoulder, but that was still a golden chance!
Updated
29 min: Big chance for West Ham! Summerville drops into the centre and floats a delightful through ball to Soler, who stealthily breaks forward from midfield without. The Spaniard’s first touch is a little heavy but it’s still a golden chance to shoot … blocked expertly by Ait Nouri! Wow, what an interception that was, blocked Soler’s shot headed for the far corner. I’m not sure Johnstone would have got there. So often those defensive blocks come to nothing but fair play to Ait Nouri, he didn’t give up the chase after Soler’s heavy touch.
Updated
26 min: Cunha gets in on the action, finding a pocket of space outside West Ham’s area, and boots a decent effort at Fabianski’s near post. The Polish keeper saves.
24 min: I have always thought Bowen was quick for someone that hails from Hereford, but the skuttling forward latches onto a loose ball inside Wolves’ penalty box, beating Toti easily for pace, before driving a fierce low shot at Johnstone, who saves well with his feet.
Updated
22 min: We have barely seen anything from Cunha, Wolves’ talisman.
20 min: A first real foray in numbers for Wolves, which ends with Gomes pinging a shot straight into the belly of Fabianski.
18 min: In a move that is VERY Sunday League, Summerville is being made to remove his undershirt, which is apparently clashing with the rest of his kit.
15 min: “I’m on the sofa near Molineux,” emails Peter Higginson. “If Gary O’Neill can drink 20 teas a day, I can eat 20 meatballs, as I am doing. Predicting a Wolves loss and Gary gone by tomorrow.”
Twenty meatballs! Peter! I am in awe.
Sort of reminds me of superpedjason on Instagram, who is also a marvel of a man.
13 min: Excellent work from Lemina to track back and steal the ball off a bounding Bowen, who was striding forward with intent. The Gabonese is a very useful footballer for Wolves.
11 min: Summerville, out on that left wing for West Ham, has looked very bright. Bowen is playing as the central striker for the hosts, by the way, with Kudus on the right, but tucked in to allow Wan-Bissaka to break forward from right back (just as he did at Newcastle).
9 min: A round of applause goes up around the stadium for Antonio, who wears the No 9 shirt for West Ham. There are Jamaica flags in the stands, too. Antonio will hopefully be watching this from the hospital and buoyed by that.
7 min: Wolves concede a cheap free kick right on the left touchline. They have conceded 13 goals from set pieces this season, the worst record in the Premier League by a distance. West Ham’s Summerville whips a dangerous ball to the front post, but Alvarez misses his flick off. The Mexican should have done better.
4 min: West Ham have settled well. Wolves haven’t really had a kick yet.
Updated
2 min: A few home fans in the stands are showing their Antonio shirts in support of the crocked striker.
Updated
Peeeeeeeeeeep! Play gets underway, as bubbles float gently across the pitch.
The teams are out! West Ham in their claret and blue, Wolves in their old gold. It’s nice not to see the two teams are they are meant to be.
Just on Gary O’Neil drinking 20 cups of tea a day, I’m also concerned about the amount of time he’s spending in the toilet. If an average mug of tea is 300ml, and he’s drinking 20, that’s six litres/a lot of liquid.
“Am hoping that when Lopetegui eventually gets given the tin tack that Mark Noble is given the manager’s gig,” emails Ian Burch. “Local boy, club legend, Sullivan loyalist, will turn down the offer of a club car so he can travel to home games on the bus, used to dealing with irate Hammers fans invading the pitch and can instil discipline in the squad by coming up with a rota for the players to sweep up the dressing room after matches. He can also be relied upon to re-instate liquor on the players pre-match meal of pie and mash, a ban which lost Lopetegui the dressing room on day one”.
Updated
Should reiterate that West Ham’s performance against Leicester, at least offensively, was not bad at all. They had 31 shots, with an xG of 3.1. No team has had more and gone on to lose the game in more than seven years.
Lopetegui speaks!
On Antonio:
The more important thing is that the person, the father, the son, the brother that he is, is OK. We talked with him today.
On Wolves:
Our approach is to do well against a good team. It’s not going to be an easy task. After we lost at Leicester, there were a few positives but the most important thing is the match today.
Is it possible to ‘lose the dressing room’ based upon your caffeine intake? Absolute headloss here, surely.
GARY O’NEILL HAS TWENTY TEAS EVERY DAY 🫖☕️ pic.twitter.com/MDkQnKC3Ms
— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) December 6, 2024
Not every Wolves fan has taken this tea revelation well.
“No wonder we’re so [awful] if our manager spends all his waking hours stood by a [bleeding] kettle”, tweeted one supporter on Friday.
Feels very odd that Lopetegui has left Paqueta on the bench again, particularly as he did so for West Ham’s last outing, a 3-1 defeat at Leicester. That scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story – the Hammers were very good in large periods – but ultimately weren’t clinical enough. West Ham have other creators in Kudus, Bowen and Summerville but Paqueta omission is glaring once again. It’s also interesting that despite Antonio’s accident, Füllkrug still doesn’t get a starting berth tonight.
Wolves make three changes from the XI that lost heavily at Everton, which is hardly a surprise. Johnstone, Semedo and Toti all come into the line-up. Where is José Sa? In last season’s Premier League, the Portuguese had the best goals prevented numbers of any goalkeeper based on Opta’s expected goals on target faced metric. He’s had an inconsistent season this campaign, and clashed with Wolves supporters following the 4-2 home defeat to Bournemouth earlier this month. Hwang is a quality option on the bench, even if he has yet to fire properly this season due to form and fitness.
The teams!
West Ham: Fabianski, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson Palmieri, Alvarez, Soucek, Kudus, Soler, Summerville, Bowen.
Subs: Areola, Cresswell, Coufal, Lucas Paqueta, Fullkrug, Luis Guilherme, Ings, Rodriguez, Todibo.
Wolves: Johnstone, Lemina, Bueno, Toti Gomes, Nelson Semedo, Andre Trindade, Joao Gomes, Doherty, Cunha, Ait Nouri, Larsen.
Subs: Bentley, Hwang, Dawson, Rodrigo Gomes, Doyle, Forbs, Bellegarde, Goncalo Guedes, Pedro Lima.
Referee: John Brooks (Leicestershire)
Preamble
Last week, a struggling side near the bottom of the table faced Wolves at home … and came through to win 4-0. How Everton needed that victory, particularly when you consider the Toffees’ next three games are against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, with the re-arranged Merseyside derby also surely in the not-too-distant future.
A good win for Everton, but a bad defeat for Wolves, who remain 19th. Their festive run is not nearly so difficult as Everton, although the upcoming games against West Ham, Leicester and Ipswich before Christmas are arguably more important in deciding whether Wolves will avoid relegation come the end of the season.
West Ham, despite appointing Julen Lopetegui in the summer and spending well over £100m in the transfer market, are another club nervously looking over their shoulder. Performances have fluctuated wildly of late, and the job security of both Lopetegui and Wolves’ Gary O’Neil remains in the balance. Some have even gone to far as to label tonight’s game as ‘El Sackico’.
Much of the focus before this match has understandably been on Michail Antonio, the West Ham forward who was involved in a horrific car crash on Saturday. After initial concerns that it could have been a lot worse, it was a relief to hear the 34-year-old was “conscious and communicating” as he was taken to hospital. Antonio had surgery on a broken leg on Sunday, and is expected to be out for at least a year, although it remains unclear if the Jamaica international will play again. It is bemusing whether to feel devastated or relieved for Antonio but the accident will surely have sent shockwaves around the West Ham squad, of which the striker was such a big part.
Regardless of the Antonio news, this is a huge game for West Ham and their manager. Oh, and a big one for Wolves and Gary O’Neil, too.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT.
