Wolves look to end their winless start to the Premier League season as they face West Ham in a New Year’s relegation six-pointer at Molineux.
Wolves will remain rock bottom regardless of the result, but victory would end their winless start to the season at the 20th attempt.
West Ham will stay 18th with a win or if Burnley slip up at Brighton irrespective of their own result at Molineux, although they can move to within a point of safety if Nottingham Forest lose at lunchtime.
Team News
Andre is available for Wolves after he was suspended in their 1-1 draw at Manchester United.
Santiago Bueno (knock) faces a late fitness check.
Emmanuel Agbadou (international duty), Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Toti Gomes (both hamstring), Marshall Munetsi (calf), Daniel Bentley (ankle), Leon Chiwone (ACL) and Rodrigo Gomes (groin) remain ruled out.
West Ham will welcome loanee, Igor Julio back after he was ineligible to feature in their 2-2 draw at home to his parent club, Brighton.
Jean-Clair Todibo faces a late fitness test after he suffered a groin injury against the Seagulls.
El Hadji Malick Diouf, Aaron Wan-Bissaka (both international duty) and Lukasz Fabianski (back) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Wolves host West Ham at Molineux on Saturday 3 January at 3pm GMT, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Wolves have won just two of their last seven league meetings against West Ham (W2, L5).
- West Ham have claimed 10 points from their last nine league trips to Wolves (W3, D1, L5).
- Wolves have won three of their last four league matches at home to West Ham by 1-0 results, except for a 2-1 loss in April 2024.
- Wolves have lost each of their two previous league matches against London-based opposition this season (L2), which were both by 2-0 results against Crystal Palace and Brentford respectively.
- West Ham have drawn 1-1 in two of their last three away matches except for a 3-0 loss in their recent away game at Manchester City.
Prediction
Now at the halfway point and still winless with a 15-point gap from Nottingham Forest who occupy the last safety spot, Wolves know that this is now a must-win if they’re to stand any chance of a miraculous escape otherwise they’re hypothetically as good as down surely.
Rob Edwards though will be pleased at how his Wolves team went toe-to-toe with Man Utd in an evenly-matched game which highlighted their improvements on the road, but they now need to start translating those improved performances into their home games if want to stay up.
West Ham finally showed grit and determination in a gutsy display against Brighton where they twice took the lead in a fiery first half, yet a carelessly tame flap from Alphonse Areola cost them a huge win but they can be proud of the display even though they need to just cut out the careless defensive mistakes now.
Should Forest lose in the lunchtime kick-off then victory in this game carries even more impetus for both teams which could make for a cagey or energetic attacking game, but I do think that West Ham might just be slowly turning a corner and should nick this if play at their best.
Prediction: Wolves 1-2 West Ham
Result: Wolves 3-0 West Ham
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