Set pieces save Hammers

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 West Ham United

Wolves welcomed The Irons to the Moulinoux on Saturday afternoon with a win for the home side taking them above their visitors. However that wasn’t meant to be as it would be the visitors who took all three points moving them into 7th on one more point than Newcastle in 8th with the Magpies having a game in hand.

The game proved to be a very physical encounter and this was on show from the first few seconds after Mohammed Kudus committed a foul on the halfway line during the opening passage of play. After a slight hinderance to the begging of the match Wolverhampton were the first team to settle into the match having the lion share of possession that allowed makeshift central attacking midfielder Rayan Ait-Nouri to cut inside on the right before unleashing a powerful effort that went above the bar.

It took until the twelfth minute for the visiting side to have their first real chance of the game. Jarrod Bowen worked hard to win he ball back from Hugo Bueno at the byline before passing inside to Thomas Soucek who steps on the ball rather than striking cleanly.

The standout man in the first half for the Wanderers was certainly the Spaniard Pablo Sarabia who made a darting run into the eighteen yard box to latch on to a pass before seeing his low driven effort was saved by Lukasz Fabianski.

There was yet another last ditch attempt to keep the ball in play at the byline, this time for the hosts in the 25th minute. Matt Doherty rose head and shoulders above the defender to head the ball towards Tommy Doyle with the Citizens loanee putting his effort just wide of the post.

The deadlock would eventually be broken on the half hour mark as Wolverhampton were awarded a penalty after Rayan Ait-Nouri was brought down inside the box by Emerson. Sarabia dispatched from the spot with his powerful effort finding the gap between an outstretched Polish hand and the right post.

Half-Time 1-0

Early in the second half Jarrod Bowen picked up an injury which lead to a lengthy stoppage in play whilst he received treatment. This same injury would prove to become to bare for the England forward who had to signal to the bench to come off just five minutes later.

The Hammers managed to score an equaliser just after the hour mark thanks to an Emerson header but VAR would have the goal chalked off for a foul in the build-up. The visitors would eventually be awarded an equaliser after Paqueta converted from the spot after Emmerson’s cross struck the hand of Kilman.

With just five minutes to play the London side took the leader via a freak goal. Set piece specialist James Ward-Prowse whipped in a corner from the right hand side that had a great amount of backspin on it allowing it to dip under the bar making it 1-2 to the visiting.

In the days leading up to this game there had been a few major VAR decisions made late on in matches. This trend continued after Wanderers scored in the nighty-ninth minute via a Kilman header. However this goal was reviewed at length by VAR before they decided to disallow the goal on the grounds that young Zimbabwean midfielder Tawanda Chirewa was offside.

Full Time 1-2