The Breakdown | West Ham vs Wolves

#1 In both camps

Gary O’Neil confirmed that Rayan Ait-Nouri and Mario Lemina are expected to be fit for the trip to the London Stadium. Ait-Nouri has missed the last three having been withdrawn in the loss to Fulham at the end of November and O’Neil is expecting him to be available, having come through training well until now. Lemina was withdrawn in the draw against Nottingham Forest last weekend, but that was precautionary, and O’Neil also expects him to be involved. While Pedro Neto won’t travel, the head coach insisted that he’s still recovering well and could make his return to the matchday squad the following week when Chelsea visit on Christmas Eve. Joe Hodge is also stepping up his recovery, but remains absent from full training, so won’t be available.

West Ham’s only certain absentee is striker Michail Antonio, who is nursing a knee injury picked up against Nottingham Forest last month. Goalkeeper Alphonse Areola has missed the last two games, but returned to the squad on Thursday evening, and he could reclaim the gloves from Lukasz Fabianski. Edson Alvarez will be assessed after taking a knock to the hip. In defeat to Fulham last time out, David Moyes made two half-time substitutes and a further three on 65 minutes, suggesting there could be changes to the 11 which lost 5-0. Emerson and Konstantinos Mavropanos replaced Aaron Cresswell and Pablo Fornals at the break, so could start on Sunday. Likewise, Angelo Ogbonna, Divin Mubama and Sais Benrahma also came off the bench, so may hope to get the nod from the start.

West Ham (a) 🔜#WHUWOL | @MNEGlobal pic.twitter.com/MBnsMvanJ9

— Wolves (@Wolves) December 14, 2023

#2 Coming into it

Wolves are back on the road having taken four points from six available at Molineux last week. The Old Gold beat Burnley under the Molineux lights thanks to Hee Chan Hwang’s winner, before Matheus Cunha earned his side a point against Nottingham Forest. Away from Molineux Wolves have lost their last three at Sheffield United, Fulham and Arsenal, so will look to add to their two away Premier League wins down in London.

Wolves’ last three | D 1-1 Nottingham Forest (H) – W 1-0 Burnley (H) – L 2-1 Arsenal (A)

West Ham’s form has been inconsistent of late, typified in the past week, where they were beaten 5-0 at Fulham before securing top spot in their Europa League group following a 2-0 success over SC Freiburg. Their last London Stadium outing in the Premier League resulted in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace and came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League recently too.

West Ham’s last three | L 5-0 Fulham (A) – W 2-1 Tottenham (A) – D 1-1 Crystal Palace (H)

#3 Since last time

Wolves 1 West Ham 0 | 14^th January 2023

At the opposite end of 2023, Wolves hauled themselves out of the relegation zone for the first time in three months with a big win over West Ham. The Old Gold’s win saw them leapfrog their opponents and in turn leave them in the bottom three. Daniel Podence scored the only goal three minutes after the break, following good work by Nelson Semedo and Matheus Nunes. The win was Julen Lopetegui’s first at Molineux in the Premier League and it would have been more impressive had Raul Jimenez’s goal not been ruled out for offside.

Wolves’ XI | Sa, Semedo, Collins, Kilman, H Bueno, Neves, Nunes, Moutinho, Hwang, Podence, Cunha.

Only one member of the West Ham team that day has since departed, but it was arguably their most important, with Declan Rice now representing Arsenal. Six Hammers to start that afternoon at Molineux were also in the eleven against Freiburg on Thursday evening. Gianluca Scamacca also came off the bench at Molineux but cut his ties with the Hammers in the summer. As for Wolves, Nathan Collins, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Nunes and Podence have all moved on to pastures new since. The outbound Adama Traore and Jimenez came off the bench and have since departed.

West Ham’s XI | Fabianski, Coufal, Aguerd, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Paqueta, Bowen, Fornals, Antonio.

#4 In the media

Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson, speaking to Wolves Express this week, says the Old Gold have impressed him this season.  

Merson said: “They’ve played some good football and have got some good players in the team, Cunha and Hwang, and the two centre halves have been outstanding in Kilman and Dawson. I think Wolves are becoming a Brentford and Brighton, and I don’t mean that in any way disrespectfully, but if you’re one of the top boys going for the Premier League title and you beat Wolves, you look at it as a good three points because they will upset someone along the way, like they did Man City.

“Gary’s done an unbelievable job at Wolves. I don’t think anybody could do a better job here at the moment. We played together at Portsmouth in a very successful year together and I’ve seen him over the years at Sky. He’s got his chance and they’d be a lot higher up the league if it wasn’t for VAR.”

Pundit Michael Brown, speaking to BBC Sport, says West Ham shouldn’t panic after the 5-0 loss to Fulham.

Brown said: “I covered the game against Spurs and it was a brilliant performance with some big displays all over the pitch from West Ham. Then, it was disappointing in the defeat at Fulham. In December, we have to be careful against being over-critical. It was a top win against Spurs, a disappointing next result, but I think they are still in a really healthy position.

“We all want to play the perfect style and in the perfect way, but look how many games Moyes has managed. He is a workaholic and they have a really experienced manager at the helm who understands everything about the game. They started really well this season and are still in ninth.”