Wolverhampton Wanderers vs West Ham United. Premier League.
MolineuxAttendance31,217.
Report and highlights as goals from Leander Dendoncker and Patrick Cutrone earn Wolves victory
Wednesday 4 December 2019 23:38, UK
Wolves produced a dominant performance to beat West Ham 2-0 at Molineux and move up to fifth in the Premier League table.
Leander Dendoncker's goal gave the home side the lead midway through the first half and substitute Patrick Cutrone put the seal on the victory with a late second.
That put a fairer reflection on the difference between the teams, extending Wolves' unbeaten run in the competition to 10 games.
West Ham had some promising moments but, after their impressive win at Chelsea on Saturday, this was a return to the worrying form that has been a feature of their season.
On a chilly evening in Wolverhampton, it was Wolves who looked the more threatening from the outset with Adama Traore providing a real outlet down the right wing.
But the opening goal came from the left with Joao Moutinho curling a corner kick into the box and Dendoncker (23) stabbing the ball beyond West Ham goalkeeper David Martin.
Rui Patricio had to be at his best to keep Wolves ahead soon after, pulling off a dramatic save to deny Pablo Fornals, whose curled effort had looked destined for the top corner.
After the interval, the game opened up with Raul Jimenez, Jonny and Romain Saiss all going close to doubling the lead, while Robert Snodgrass might have done better at the other end.
But it was left to Cutrone (86) to take advantage of another good run by Jonny and collect the pass from fellow substitute Pedro Neto before finding the bottom corner of the net.
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo: "It means a lot to everyone who is here at Molineux. Everyone plays their part in it. We keep going, we have to compete, play and improve.
"We had clear counter-attacks and clear chances. It was very important for us to avoid that last-minute situation.
"I am happy for Patrick. We needed all the help we could get. This is what we want, players who come from the bench and give us solutions. We are a small squad so we need everyone.
"Tomorrow I am giving them a day off after 21 days without one because they deserve it. But they know the main point of the day off is to rest."
West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini: "I was happy with the attitude of the team, I thought we dominated most parts of the game, particularly in the second half. It was a very close game, we had one option to draw the game, we missed that opportunity and then we conceded from a counter-attack.
"For me, the big mistake was that we conceded a goal again from set-pieces. We have lost too many games just by set-pieces. Newcastle scored three. Crystal Palace scored from a set-piece. Bournemouth scored from a set-piece. It is maybe eight or 10 goals now, so we will see what we must do."
Moutinho provided the assist for the game's opening goal and, while Pellegrini insisted it was that goal that allowed Wolves to control much of what followed, it was surely the presence of their maestro in midfield that accounted for the home side's dominance.
Nuno made reference afterwards to how his midfielders are able to dictate the tempo and it is testament to their quality given that they were outnumbered in the middle of the pitch.
Moutinho - 5ft 7ins of football heaven according to the song bellowed out by the home support - has only missed four games in all competitions this season and Wolves have lost three of them. The 24 matches that he has started? They have lost just one of those.
Wolves travel to Brighton for Renault Super Sunday in the hope of extending their unbeaten run to 11 games. Meanwhile, West Ham host Arsenal on Monday Night Football.
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