Lucas Paqueta produced a hat-trick of assists as West Ham moved up to seventh in the Premier League table with a 3-0 win over Wolves, who have now lost their last four on the road.
Paqueta twice sent Mohammed Kudus away to score in the first half, with the Ghanian adding to his strike in the Europa League win over Freiburg at the London Stadium three days ago.
Kudus is a rising star in east London but while his speed, control and shot power were on show for both goals, Wolves’ defending left plenty to be desired. They had been forced to bring in replacement goalkeeper Daniel Bentley and switched to a back four but were far too open.
Paqueta found Jarrod Bowen on the stroke of half-time, but while that shot came back off the post, the pair linked up brilliantly on 74 minutes to put the game to bed, with Mario Lemina once again punished for giving up possession cheaply in the centre of the park.
Before that third West Ham goal Wolves had been pressing for a route back into the match and Pablo Sarabia saw a close-range finish chalked off by a long VAR check for offside. It’s not the first time this season Gary O’Neil’s side have been undone by the officials at Stockley Park but this was a correct, if extremely tight, call.
However, he would surely have been left less than impressed by two challenges from Vladimir Coufal on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, which saw the West Ham right-back collide with Bellegarde’s head. He was only shown a yellow card for the second clash. In the Sky Sports studio, pundit Daniel Sturridge described the first as “WWE stuff.”
Wolves remain in a relatively comfortable position in the table, 13th, 10 points above the relegation zone. But their defensive issues and lack of cutting edge – this was the first time they hadn’t scored since the opening weekend – will give Gary O’Neil plenty to ponder ahead of their Christmas Eve clash with Chelsea at Molineux.
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Mohammed Kudus puts West Ham 1-0 up against Wolves, after a brilliant counter-attack from the home side
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Mohammed Kudus gets his second goal of the game to give West Ham a 2-0 advantage against Wolves
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Jarrod Bowen comes close to giving West Ham a third, as the hosts remain in dominant form against Wolves
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Pablo Sarabia’s goal is disallowed as Wolves search for a way back into the game against West Ham
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A clinical Jarrod Bowen extends West Ham’s lead against Wolves
More to follow…
What’s next?
West Ham have a Carabao Cup quarter-final with Liverpool next on Wednesday, 8pm kick off, live on Sky Sports.
Wolves play Chelsea on Christmas Eve, 1pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports.