West Ham United 3-0 Wolves. Mohammed Kudus scored twice to help West Ham get back on track in the Premier League with a 3-0 victory over Wolves at London Stadium.
A dominant West Ham looked a different side to the one that suffered a 5-0 thrashing by Fulham at Craven Cottage seven days previously.
Kudus’ superb strike from the edge of the box was followed by a calm close-range effort less than 10 minutes later as the Ghanaian attacker put the Hammers firmly in control at the break.
Wolves applied pressure after the break but Jarrod Bowen made the points safe in the 74th minute with his 10th Premier League goal of the season.
David Moyes’ home side showed little sign of fatigue from the 2-0 victory against Freiburg on Thursday that sealed their place in the last 16 of the Europa League.
This win moves West Ham to eighth in the Premier League, while Wolves stay 13th, 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
Keen to avoid a second successive league defeat after last week’s embarrassing afternoon at Craven Cottage, West Ham started brightly with Kurt Zouma, Bowen and Lucas Paqueta going close before Kudus’ low and left-footed strike found the right corner.
Paqueta led the counter-attack from a Wolves corner, feeding a delightful pass to Kudus who charged towards goal before cutting inside and firing past Dan Bentley.
The pair linked up again for West Ham’s second as Kudus slotted home after he was put through on goal by the Brazilian.
Wolves looked more threatening after the break, with Matheus Cunha and Hwang Hee-chan, the club’s top two scorers this season, going closest.
The visitors thought they were back in the game when Pablo Sarabia slid in Nelson Semedo’s ball across the face of goal, but the goal was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR review.
Wolves’ efforts came to nothing as Paqueta claimed a hat-trick of assists with a clever return pass to feed Bowen, who beat former Hammers defender Craig Dawson for pace and found the bottom left corner of the net.
Kudus’ celebration sees him sit on the advertising boards and is becoming a regular, and welcome, sight for West Ham fans.
The 23-year-old, who arrived at West Ham from Ajax in a deal worth at least £38m in August, has scored in his last three games at London Stadium.
His second goal on Sunday showed how clinical he can be in one-on-one situations with the goalkeeper and he appears to have created an important connection with Paqueta, who was at the centre of all of West Ham’s attacking play.
Manager Moyes will hope both players take this form into a tricky festive period, with an EFL Cup quarter-final meeting with Liverpool on Wednesday followed by league games against Manchester United and Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Wolves take on Chelsea at Molineux next on December 24, before returning to London to take on Brentford.
source – BBC