“Three points means three beers,” according to Vítor Pereira. The Wolves head coach and fans can enjoy a few righteous pints after his side moved 12 points clear of the relegation zone with a hard-fought victory against West Ham.
Jørgen Strand Larsen scored the only goal to open up a greater gap on Ipswich and Leicester, who both play on Wednesday. Their rivals have a game in hand but Wolves will feel they are close to securing another season of Premier League football after a meritorious victory against a West Ham team that struggled to get going.
Graham Potter offered first West Ham starts to Luis Guilherme and Evan Ferguson to create a new front three alongside Jarrod Bowen, while Pereira continued without the suspended Matheus Cunha. The Brazilian missed the two previous matches, which Wolves came through with a draw and win, although his comments about feeling it is the right time to move were not warmly greeted at Molineux.
Wolves are looking to eke their way to Premier League survival, aided by the dispiriting state of the three teams worse than them. They looked nervous in defence, the slight threat of going down still looming over them, and a Toti Gomes mistake allowed Bowen to burst down the right into space, reaching the box before pulling back for Ferguson who should have tapped in at the far post but messed up the finish, summing up West Ham in the first half.
Toti found confidence in the opposition box, flicking a vicious Rayan Aït-Nouri free-kick across Alphonse Areola but the goalkeeper reacted instinctively to palm clear. Without Cunha, Wolves are more reliant on set pieces and took encouragement from their first opportunity.
In this fixture last season, the former Wolves captain Maximilian Kilman thought he had scored a late equaliser, only to have it ruled out by VAR. He will not, however, have been pleased to have influenced the opener on this occasion. Strand Larsen was given enough space to slowly turn his frame on the edge of the box and take aim, his shot deflecting off the now West Ham defender Kilman and into the net.
Jørgen Strand Larsen unleashes a shot to give Wolves a first-half lead. Photograph: Jack Thomas/WWFC/Wolves/Getty Images
The injustice of the result a year ago had potentially wound up the hosts as the match became an increasingly fiery encounter. Tony Harrington was kept busy maintaining order as the challenges flew in, often followed by some pushing and shoving for good measure.
With the stadium enlivened and team morale increased, Wolves should have had a second when João Gomes weaved through the West Ham backline and found Strand Larsen, he laid it into the path of Marshall Munetsi who thrashed his shot against the bar. The downside was Gomes seemingly tweaked his groin mid-dribble and slumped to the turf but was able to recover and continue.
Wolves were dominant and a key part of that was the work of André and Gomes, who has signed a new five-year deal at Molineux, in the middle. It is a pairing they require on the pitch. James Ward-Prowse and Lucas Paquetá were no match for the golden shirts, who had more energy and aggression where it mattered, as Wolves took a grip on the match.
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Potter, seeing how the game was going, made a triple substitution at half-time, sending on two central midfielders and Niclas Füllkrug up front. It resulted in West Ham playing with four at the back and allowed Paquetá to move further forward in the hope he could find positions to influence the play more frequently.
The change in formation did end Wolves’ ability to control the match, which became scrappy as neither side were able to use the ball wisely. The niggly fouls that were regular occurrences before the break grew in number and Harrington even had to book one of the Wolves backroom staff, André Monteiro, for his protestations from the dugout. It was somewhat surprising the referee heard the complaints amid consternation in the crowd whenever the whistle was blown.
Few chances were being created, meaning there was extreme excitement in the away end when Füllkrug took a boot to the chin in the box from Matt Doherty. Harrington redeemed himself in the eyes of the Molineux faithful by not giving a penalty and then booking the Germany striker for his protestations.
Füllkrug almost had the last laugh when his header hit the bar and rebounded to the substitute Emerson who fired wide. There was a nervous tension within the Wolves players and fans, something West Ham did their best to exploit; without success as Tomas Soucek blew a fantastic late chance, ensuring the pints would flow.
