Wolves 2-0 West Ham: Nuno Espirito Santo's side move up to fifth

Report and highlights as goals from Leander Dendoncker and Patrick Cutrone earn Wolves victory

Adam Bate

Comment and Analysis @ghostgoal

Wednesday 4 December 2019 23:38, UK

Wolves produced a dominant performance to beat West Ham 2-0 at Molineux and move up to fifth in the Premier League table.

Leander Dendoncker's goal gave the home side the lead midway through the first half and substitute Patrick Cutrone put the seal on the victory with a late second.

That put a fairer reflection on the difference between the teams, extending Wolves' unbeaten run in the competition to 10 games.

West Ham had some promising moments but, after their impressive win at Chelsea on Saturday, this was a return to the worrying form that has been a feature of their season.

How Wolves won it...

On a chilly evening in Wolverhampton, it was Wolves who looked the more threatening from the outset with Adama Traore providing a real outlet down the right wing.

But the opening goal came from the left with Joao Moutinho curling a corner kick into the box and Dendoncker (23) stabbing the ball beyond West Ham goalkeeper David Martin.

Rui Patricio had to be at his best to keep Wolves ahead soon after, pulling off a dramatic save to deny Pablo Fornals, whose curled effort had looked destined for the top corner.

After the interval, the game opened up with Raul Jimenez, Jonny and Romain Saiss all going close to doubling the lead, while Robert Snodgrass might have done better at the other end.

But it was left to Cutrone (86) to take advantage of another good run by Jonny and collect the pass from fellow substitute Pedro Neto before finding the bottom corner of the net.

What the managers said…

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo: "It means a lot to everyone who is here at Molineux. Everyone plays their part in it. We keep going, we have to compete, play and improve.

"We had clear counter-attacks and clear chances. It was very important for us to avoid that last-minute situation.

"I am happy for Patrick. We needed all the help we could get. This is what we want, players who come from the bench and give us solutions. We are a small squad so we need everyone.

"Tomorrow I am giving them a day off after 21 days without one because they deserve it. But they know the main point of the day off is to rest."

West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini: "I was happy with the attitude of the team, I thought we dominated most parts of the game, particularly in the second half. It was a very close game, we had one option to draw the game, we missed that opportunity and then we conceded from a counter-attack.

"For me, the big mistake was that we conceded a goal again from set-pieces. We have lost too many games just by set-pieces. Newcastle scored three. Crystal Palace scored from a set-piece. Bournemouth scored from a set-piece. It is maybe eight or 10 goals now, so we will see what we must do."

Man of the Match - Joao Moutinho

Moutinho provided the assist for the game's opening goal and, while Pellegrini insisted it was that goal that allowed Wolves to control much of what followed, it was surely the presence of their maestro in midfield that accounted for the home side's dominance.

Nuno made reference afterwards to how his midfielders are able to dictate the tempo and it is testament to their quality given that they were outnumbered in the middle of the pitch.

Moutinho - 5ft 7ins of football heaven according to the song bellowed out by the home support - has only missed four games in all competitions this season and Wolves have lost three of them. The 24 matches that he has started? They have lost just one of those.

Opta Stats...

Wolves are now unbeaten in 10 consecutive top-flight matches for the first time since January 1972.
Wolves have won three league matches in a row against West Ham for the first time in the club's history.
West Ham have now won just one of their last nine Premier League matches, conceding 18 goals across those games.
Wolves have scored in each of their last 10 Premier League games at Molineux - their best period in the top-flight since February 2004 (also 10 in a row).
Wolves have lost just one of their last 15 home Premier League games, a 5-2 defeat to Chelsea in September.
Joao Moutinho has assisted 12 goals in the Premier League - only Matt Jarvis has provided more assists for Wolves (13).

What's next?

Wolves travel to Brighton for Renault Super Sunday in the hope of extending their unbeaten run to 11 games. Meanwhile, West Ham host Arsenal on Monday Night Football.

Sign up for goal alerts with Sky Sports

The Premier League action keeps coming - make sure you don't miss a thing by signing up for goal alerts with the Sky Sports Score Centre app.

Download the Score Centre app for iOS devices or Android , select 'Notifications' from the 'More' section in the app main menu, then toggle on for 'Goals' to get alerts straight to your phone.

This season, you also can watch Premier League match highlights for free - without being a Sky Sports subscriber. You'll find highlights from every Premier League game - from 5.15pm on a Saturday or shortly after full-time on other days - in the Score Centre, as well as on the Sky Sports website and app plus the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel.

You can follow dedicated live blogs of every Premier League game on the Sky Sports website and app and track goals as they go in with our vidiprinter page.