West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers are separated by five points ahead of Sunday’s Premier League showdown at the London Stadium.
With 16 matches in the books, 13th-placed Wolves trail ninth-placed West Ham, who find themselves three points shy of the top six.
Ten straight European wins at London Stadium! ✅ pic.twitter.com/Z4lRgeML7C— West Ham United (@WestHam) December 14, 2023
Ten straight European wins at London Stadium! ✅ pic.twitter.com/Z4lRgeML7C
Can Gary O’Neil’s side close the gap to the Hammers this weekend? Or will David Moyes’ men move closer to the European places?
West Ham enter Sunday’s clash on the back of a 2-0 victory over German club SC Freiburg in the Europa League, courtesy of goals from Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez.
After winning five of their six group games, the Hammers have qualified automatically for the last 16 of the Europa League.
Last weekend, however, West Ham suffered a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Fulham, who emphatically halted a six-game unbeaten streak for Moyes’ men.
Still, the Hammers can take confidence from the fact that they have lost just four of their previous 24 home matches across all competitions.
As for Wolverhampton Wanderers, they were held to a 1-1 draw by Nottingham Forest last weekend, despite racking up 69% possession and 10 shots on home soil.
It would not be unfair to say that Wolves have been inconsistent of late, recording two wins, two draws and three losses in their previous seven outings.
O’Neil’s side have also struggled on the road in recent times, managing to win only four of their last 30 away games across all competitions.
Given that both teams have scored in 13 of their previous 14 encounters, Wolves are expected to score and concede at the London Stadium.
Head-to-head: Across the past four Premier League meetings between the teams, both sides have picked up two clean-sheet victories.
On top of that, there have been no draws in the previous 11 encounters, with Wolves picking up six wins and West Ham claiming five victories.
Team news: West Ham have just the one injury absentee at the moment, with Michail Antonio set to miss Sunday’s clash due to a knee issue.
On the flip side, Wolves will be without full-back Jonny this weekend, while Pedro Neto, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Mario Lemina are injury doubts.
Given the recent scoring patterns of these two sides, both teams will likely find the back of the net at the London Stadium.
Forebet predicts that West Ham and Wolves will combine for over 2.5 goals, with the hosts outscoring the visitors on this occasion.