Wolves vs West Ham United
Date: 29/01/2019
K/O: 19:45
Venue: Molineux
Referee: David Coote
A cold Tuesday night in the Midlands will see two clubs with an eerily similar record this season go head to head as Wolves welcome West Ham United to Molineux. After an embarrassing weekend in the FA Cup for both sides, they’ll be looking for a chance to get ahead of each other in the Premier League table.
Wolves currently sit above West Ham in the table by one point with both sides emulating each other’s goal difference of -4. Last time out in the league, the hosts scored a dramatic last-minute winner against Midlands rivals Leicester City while West Ham failed to capitalise on victory against Arsenal as they fell at the hands of Bournemouth. As for their performances in the Cup at the weekend, both sides were somewhat embarrassed by lower league opposition with West Ham crashing out in a humiliating 4-2 defeat to AFC Wimbledon while Wolves needed another last-minute strike to spare their blushes and come away with a replay against Shrewsbury.
Both have had similar seasons, dipping in and out of form, while picking up most points against the ‘top six’ and they even share the exact same record in their last five games in all competitions, with both Wolves and the Hammers winning twice, losing twice while drawing once. The similarities are striking and there is little to suggest that there are vast differences between the sides on the pitch. Trying to predict this game is near impossible but the odds could be in the home teams favour as West Ham have been hit with back to back defeats.
The two sides effectively find themselves in their own mini league as Pellegrini highlighted after saying it’s between these two, Leicester, Everton and Bournemouth to be ‘the best of the rest’ considering the top six is all but tied up. Therefore this game has a lot riding on it and could be what separates the two clubs at the end of the season. The hosts will be looking to pick up the double over West Ham for the first time after a late Traore striker gave them all three points in London back in September.
Team News
Wolves
Wolves will have to wait for one more game for their centre-half Boly to return from suspension after his sending off against Man City. At the weekend they made six changes and they will likely recall those dropped such as Jimenez, Rui Patricio and hat-trick hero last time out, Diogo Jota.
Jonny has impressed enough for his current loan deal to potentially be changed to a permanent deal in the coming days and he has featured heavily this season and has become a regular in the starting XI.
Nuno Espirito Santo has expressed his pleasure of how the season is going but shines a spotlight on the fact they need to keep their focus, keep the defence organised and be more compact. He’s aware their home form isn’t as strong as it was in the promotion season and has put that down to conceding too many goals – 11 in the last five games to be exact.
West Ham
West Ham can rejoice after their shock cup exit at the weekend as Marko Arnautovic has put pen to paper and extended his contract with the Hammers, burying doubts of a move to China which has plagued him in recent weeks. This could mean a recall to the first team, which is much needed for West Ham with Lucas Perez picking up an ankle injury on Saturday.
The Hammers also made six changes for their FA Cup tie and regulars such as Fabianski, Rice and Anderson are all likely to return. Defender, Ryan Fredericks, who showed real promise before injuring his shin back in November, could start in his first league game for over two months.
Pellegrini has called on his players to find consistency going forward and feels they haven’t strung three games in a row where they have played the same, even with their four-match win streak earlier in the season.
Predicted Starting XIs
Wolves (3-5-2): Patricio; Bennett, Coady, Saiss; Doherty, Dendoncker, Neves, Jonny, Moutinho; Jimenez, Jota
West Ham (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Zabaleta, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Noble, Rice; Snodgrass, Nasri, Anderson; Arnautovic
Score Prediction: Wolves 1 West Ham United 2
The return of Austrian Arnautovic could raise increasing concerns across the Wolves defensive line especially after conceding three last time out at Molineux. Yet West Ham have lost their last two league outings 2-0 and if they don’t score in the Midlands, it will be the third match they have failed to score in.
Football doesn’t tend to follow the rules though, a returning star striker to a team struggling to score away, a leaky defence currently for both sides and a team who have made a habit of scoring last-minute goals makes it a tough one to call.
Two teams with identical records could play a contested stalemate or a one-goal game or we may get more drama which was staged at Molineux last time out. With the Hammers having a point to prove and a few key players returning, at a ground which Wolves have struggled to fortify, there’s potential for West Ham to turn around the recent breakdowns on the road.
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