West Ham lost against fellow underdog Wolves, dropping them into the bottom three of the Premier League. Both teams entered the match at Molineux with poor league records, but the hosts prevailed 1-0 thanks to a deft Daniel Podence goal, lifting them out of the relegation zone.
With only one victory in their previous nine Premier League games and only one point from their previous six, West Ham traveled to the Black Country.
It forced the Hammers to look behind them and into the relegation zone, where their opponents were after an equally frustrating run of results.
Although Julen Lopetegui has stopped a downward trend, he is still pressing his new charges—who had just one victory in their previous eight games—to perform better.
Even though they weren't at their best, they still had what it took to defeat a weak West Ham team. All afternoon, the visitors barely gave Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa any trouble.
The game began with a feeble attempt by Jarrod Bowen, and from that point on David Moyes' team only infrequently showed signs of life. Instead, they were forced to play from behind. Hugo Bueno successfully cleared a shot from the line from West Ham's Vladimir Coufal after Lukasz Fabianski had to react quickly to stop a curling shot from Matheus Nunes.
There were no further opportunities in a first half that won't stick in the mind for very long, but Wolves scored three minutes after the break. Wolves broke away quickly, and West Ham were caught upfield. The ball eventually found its way to Podence on the edge of the box.
As Molineux exploded, he blasted home a low drive for his third goal in five games. West Ham has only scored six goals in the league away from home this year, and they never seemed like they would add to that pitiful total to salvage a result.
Instead, as Wolves attempted to increase their lead, Ruben Neves saw one of his signature long-range shots rebound against the crossbar and back into play.
Gianluca Scamacca, a fellow substitute, having just recovered possession of the ball on the byline when Said Benrahma could only manage a meek shot at Sa.
The visitors increased the number of players they sent forward in the closing minutes, but they were unable to score an equalizer. They also avoided giving up a late second goal when Raul Jimenez had a goal disallowed for offside.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0