Wolves welcome West Ham to Molineux in a crunch clash in the race for Premier League survival.
Victory could see Wolves climb out of the relegation zone at West Ham’s expense, whilst David Moyes’ Hammers could open a three-point gap to the bottom three with a win.
Team News
Diego Costa is a doubt for Wolves after he suffered a knock which kept him out of their Carabao Cup exit at Nottingham Forest in midweek.
Boubacar Traore (unspecified), Chiquinho, Sasa Kalajdzic (both knee) and Pedro Neto (ankle) remain ruled out.
West Ham could welcome Gianluca Scamacca back into contention after he was rested for the Hammers’ FA Cup win at Brentford last weekend.
Alphonse Areola (hip), Kurt Zouma (knee), Vladimir Coufal (knock) and Manuel Lanzini (groin) are all set to be available for selection.
Maxwel Cornet (calf) remains absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Wolves’ clash against West Ham will take place at Molineux on Saturday 14 January at 3pm GMT, albeit untelevised in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Wolves have won just one of their last five meetings against West Ham (W1, L4).
- West Ham have won just one of their last five visits to Molineux (W1, D1, L3).
- Since Wolves returned to the top-flight in 2018-19 season, they have won the only two meetings between these two teams played at 3pm on a Saturday without conceding by 1-0 results.
- Wolves have scored just twice in their last four home league games (L4), although both goals came in a 3-2 home loss to Brighton in November.
- Two of West Ham’s last three away goals in the Premier League were scored from penalty spot, courtesy of Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta against Arsenal and Leeds respectively.
Prediction
Having endured two contrastable performances in cup competitions across the last week, Wolves now need to refocus on their survival battle because this clash could well be crucial to their hopes of staying up come end of season.
Julen Lopetegui though will probably like me want to see more of the gutsy fighting spirit displayed in their FA Cup draw at Liverpool, because they did look lacklustre at times in their 1-1 draw at Forest in the Carabao Cup – which they eventually lost on penalties.
West Ham meanwhile have picked up just one point in their last six league games and sit above the relegation zone on goal difference, yet managed to deliver a smash-and-grab at Brentford last weekend in a solid performance which they need to replicate here.
Either way, this game feels like it could be a close contest given what is at stake for both clubs but Wolves seem to have the better head-to-head form in recent meetings on a Saturday afternoon, yet I can see a draw brewing here somehow.
Prediction: Wolves 1-1 West Ham
Result: Wolves 1-0 West Ham
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