Daniel Podence scored the only goal in the game to help Wolves produce one of the narrow football results of the weekend in the Premier League. West Ham’s seven-game winless streak in the Premier League was extended by Daniel Podence’s second-half goal, dropping the Hammers to 18th and a point from safety. With his team passing West Ham to move up to 16th place and two points above the relegation zone, Podence’s excellent finish on a counterattack in the 48th minute earned newly appointed Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui his first Premier League home victory. West Ham has not won in the league since October 24 and will host second-bottom Everton the following Saturday. Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa had little action during an ineffective performance at Molineux from West Ham.
West Ham traveled to Wolves with some much-needed momentum after beating Brentford last Saturday in the FA Cup third round. In a lackluster first half, it was the visitors who came closest when Hugo Bueno deflected a goal-bound attempt from Vladimir Coufal after it had beaten Sa. However, Wolves scored three minutes into the second half thanks to a counterattack after a West Ham corner. Matheus Nunes’ ball was deflected into Podence’s path, who then scored from the edge of the box.
Wolves twice came close to increasing the lead but the Portuguese forward’s fifth goal of the year made the difference. In the 75th minute, substitute Ruben Neves hit the crossbar with a beautiful curling effort, then in stoppage time, Raul Jimenez’s goal was disallowed for offside. West Ham had little opportunity to tie the score because Moyes’ team has only managed six away goals in the league so far this year.
“All the games put pressure on you. They’re pretty close, and today was a critical game. They don’t include much. If possible, we need to turn that 1-0 loss into a 1-0 victory,” West Ham manager David Moyes said. “Not a terrible performance today. Although we didn’t play particularly well, we’ve discovered this year that we haven’t been able to score when we ought to. Today, we undoubtedly had ample opportunities to do so.”
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