Away Run Comes Unstuck at Wolves

West Ham United suffered their first defeat on the road this season after a 1-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Saturday afternoon.

After it was discovered that Angelo Ogbonna is likely to miss the rest of the season with cruciate ligament damage, David Moyes made one change as Craig Dawson came into the defence in the Italian’s absence.

The Hammers went into the game off the back of an outstanding 3-2 home win against Liverpool before the international break and wanted to build on that result by continuing their unbeaten record away from Stratford.

Bruno Lage’s men on the other hand were keen to bounce back after their 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace a fortnight earlier but it was the visitors who started in the ascendancy and Jarrod Bowen went close with a header from Aaron Cresswell’s cross but unfortunately for the large travelling contingent, it went just wide.

Wolves soon got a grip on the game and were pressing high as they began to dominate proceedings. Hwang Hee-chan had his cross blocked by Ben Johnson, Raúl Jiménez produced a clever run and found himself through on goal but fortunately, he failed to beat visiting goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański, as the Pole saw his effort drift harmlessly wide.

The home side were really coming on strong and João Moutinho tested Fabiański again with a long-range effort.

Kurt Zouma scored his first goal for the club against the Reds last time out and he found the back of the net again here when he met Jarrod Bowen’s corner. Unfortunately though the fans’ celebrations were cut short as it was ruled out.

The Irons were disappointed not to be in front at the break but at least the scores were level when referee Mike Dean blew the whistle.

The new Head-Coach saw his side continue their dominance at the start of the second-half. Daniel Podence forced the already busy Fabiański into another save. The two players faced up to each other again just eight minutes later and it was the Pole who came out on top again as he thwarted him with his sharp reactions.

The home side’s pressure finally paid off on the hour mark when Podence set up Jiménez to fire past Fabiański.

Immediately after the goal, Moyes made his first change by introducing Manuel Lanzini for Pablo Fornals.

Later West Ham’s final changes were made as Andriy Yarmolenko and Nikola Vlašić were introduced and, to be fair to the visitors, Yarmolenko’s combination play with Michail Antonio seemed to give them a spark as they searched for an equaliser but couldn’t quite find one.

Having been beaten on the road for the first time since April, they will now hope to get back on track and win UEFA Europa League Group H, as they go to Austria to play SK Rapid Vienna on Thursday.