West Ham United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers are set to trade tackles in a Premier League top-half six-pointer at the London Stadium.
West Ham come off the back of an uneventful 1-1 home draw with a resurgent Newcastle United, where they produced a mere three shots on target. After winning just once in their last five Premier League outings (D2, L2), the ‘Hammers’ have fallen five points adrift of the top-four pace as they take on a Wolves side they dismantled 4-0 in this exact fixture last season. However, West Ham’s patchy five-game league form at the London Stadium (W2, D1, L2) doesn’t offer much optimism, though the fact they’ve scored in all five competitive home matches since the calendar year flipped to 2022 sounds comforting. David Moyes’ attacking-minded approach across his second managerial spell at the club has seen 17 of West Ham’s 26 Premier League games this season feature both teams scoring.
In the meantime, Wolverhampton turned a 1-0 half-time lead into a 2-1 defeat away to Arsenal in midweek, extending their run without a Premier League draw to seven games (W5, L2). Wolves’ reverse at the Emirates left their Premier League record in London this season perfectly balanced (W2, L2), with each fixture won/lost in that sequence seeing the winner on the day score precisely two goals. Notably, though, before succumbing to Arsenal, the ‘Wanderers’ had been on a four-game winning league streak away from home, racking up three clean sheets in that period. That must be a pleasant feeling for Bruno Lage’s men, who have lost twice in their last three top-flight meetings with West Ham (W1), conceding 3+ goals in each defeat. With seven points now separating them from fourth-placed Manchester United, the Midlanders will be desperate to avoid losing back-to-back away league H2Hs for the first time since 2004.