23’,
32’
A Mohammed Kudus brace and a second-half strike from Jarrod Bowen earned West Ham United an impressive 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers to move up to eighth.
It was the perfect response to last weekend’s 5-0 defeat against Fulham as West Ham made it three wins from their last five matches and prevented Wolves from scoring for the first time since the opening weekend.
How the match unfolded
David Moyes made two changes from the Fulham match, with Emerson Palmieri and Edson Alvarez returning, while Dan Bentley replaced Jose Sa in the Wolves goal and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde returned at left wing-back.
The hosts started the stronger and their pressure paid off midway through the half when Lucas Paqueta led the charge from a Wolves corner, and found Kudus to his right. With still plenty to do, the signing from Ajax cut inside and fired a low effort that beat Bentley at his near post.
The visitors responded well, Matheus Cunha forcing Lukasz Fabianski to tip behind his shot from distance.
Just as Gary O’Neil’s side looked to be getting back into the match, West Ham doubled their lead through the same two players who combined for their first goal.
Kurt Zouma intercepted a Wolves attack before passing to Paqueta, who found the run of Kudus on the right with a defence-splitting pass and he slotted home with his right foot for his fifth of the season.
It is the earliest double scored by a West Ham player in a home Premier League match since Mark Noble v Manchester United in April 2011.
With the hour-mark approaching, Wolves thought they had scored when Pablo Sarabia capped a well-worked move, turning in Nelson Semedo’s cross from close range but a VAR check ruled the Spaniard narrowly offside.
West Ham then scored again in the 74th minute to put the match beyond doubt. Paqueta got his third assist, sliding a ball into the path of Bowen who rolled a low shot into the bottom-left corner.
The win lifts West Ham up to eighth, with 27 points. Wolves remain 13th place, with 19 points.
West Ham report | Wolves report
Match Officials
Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Simon Bennett, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Graham Scott. VAR: Jarred Gillett. Assistant VAR: Darren Cann.
WHO'S GOING TO BE YOUR
MAN OF THE MATCH?
Vote at Full-time