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.
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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.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
38 | +14 | 63 |
| 7 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
38 | +23 | 60 |
| 8 |
Man Utd
MUN
|
38 | -1 | 60 |
| 9 |
West Ham
WHU
|
38 | -14 | 52 |
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 |
Crystal Palace
CRY
|
38 | -1 | 49 |
| 11 |
Brighton
BHA
|
38 | -7 | 48 |
| 12 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
38 | -13 | 48 |
| 13 |
Fulham
FUL
|
38 | -6 | 47 |
| 14 |
Wolves
WOL
|
38 | -15 | 46 |
| 15 |
Everton
EVE
|
38 | -11 | 40 |
Next five Premier League fixtures
Key stats
- After winning only four of their opening 11 Premier League matches this season (D2 L5), West Ham have since won four of their last six (D1 L1).
- Bowen became only the second West Ham player to score 10+ Premier League goals before Christmas in a season, along with John Hartson in 1997/98 also with 11 goals.
- Paqueta was only the second Brazilian to assist three goals in a single Premier League match, after Roberto Firmino (twice for Liverpool), while he is the first West Ham player to do so since Michail Antonio v Crystal Palace in January 2017.
- Only Bowen (11) has more goals in all competitions for West Ham this season than Kudus's nine, with eight of the Ghanaian's strikes coming at the London Stadium.
- This was Wolves’ 13th away Premier League defeat of 2023, the joint-most of any side in the competition this calendar year (along with Nottingham Forest).
