Bad Night In The Black Country

West Ham United fans were hoping for some respite from their terrible start to the Premier League season on Tuesday night when they faced Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup but a late fightback from Vitor Pereira’s men meant that they were unable to progress to the third-round.

Graham Potter named a strong team for the all Premier League tie by only making four changes from the 5-1 home defeat by Chelsea just four days earlier. Alphonse Areola, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Kyle Walker-Peters and Guido Rodríguez took the places of Mads Hermansen, Max Kilman and Niclas Füllkrug who all dropped to the bench.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka wasn’t involved in the matchday squad but youngsters Oliver Scarles, Freddie Potts and Callum Marshall retained their places, while the Hammers’ Head-Coach also named Lewis Orford amongst the substitutes.

Given the start that these two teams have made to their respective top-flight campaigns, the crowd would have probably expected a cagey affair and that is exactly how the opening stages were panning with the first attempt on goal coming with twenty five minutes of the game gone.

Those who had made the trip up from East London would have been pleased, as it fell to the Hammers. Lucas Paquetá played in captain Jarrod Bowen but he was unfortunately denied by home goalkeeper Sam Johnstone. Potter’s men then seemed to find their rhythm, as they went close again soon after when Paquetá had a go but he could only drag his shot wide.

To their credit, the visitors didn’t give up and the Brazilian midfielder presented Bowen with another chance. The skipper ran into space but Johnstone made a great save.

The tables were then turned and it was time for the hosts to exert pressure. Jhon Arias tested Areola but fortunately, the Frenchman was up to the task. Then, the travelling support were surely thankful to Nayef Aguerd for blocking the subsequent effort from Rodrigo Gomes.

Despite all the positive play from the Irons, the hosts had the chance to go in front when referee Sam Barrott awarded them a penalty, as Rodríguez brought down Jean-Ricner Bellegarde in the area with just four minutes to go before the break. Wolves captain Hwang Hee-chan missed from the spot but Gomes was there on the follow-up.

West Ham could have levelled matters before Barrott blew the whistle for half-time. However, despite Paquetá getting enough power on his header, following a cross from James Ward-Prowse, the Brazilian couldn’t direct it on target.

Having had the best of what was a poor first-half, it took just five minutes for the East Londoners to equalise. Tomáš Souček headed past Johnstone after getting on the end of a cross from Walker-Peters.

Potter’s men were now looking to build on that goal and were still in the ascendancy. The away end didn’t have to wait too much longer, as just after the hour mark, they were cheering again when Walker-Peters linked up with Bowen and Paquetá raced into the box to meet the winger’s cross and head the ball past Johnstone, giving him no chance.

West Ham were looking the better side by this point and Potter then made his first change by throwing Kilman into the fray to take the place of Aguerd.

Pereira then made a number of substitutions as the game drew to a close and one of his changes in particular made the desired impact. The introduction of Jørgen Strand Larsen for Fer López on seventy three minutes took the home side up another level.

Strand Larsen had only been on the pitch for eleven minutes before Wolves found themselves back in contest. Areola’s kick from André’s deflected shot unfortunately fell into the path of the Norwegian striker and he made no mistake in beating the Frenchman.

Within two minutes of getting his name on the scoresheet, the man who had been linked with a move to Newcastle United recently helped himself to a second and West Ham’s resilience was finally broken.

Suddenly, it was Potter who was looking for a response and the Head-Coach turned to his bench and made a double change, as both Callum Wilson and Füllkrug came on for Jean-Clair Todibo and Rodríguez.

The away team had a golden chance to take the game to penalties during the six minutes of stoppage time that were signalled but Paquetá blazed over the top.

A busy nine days for the Irons finally comes to an end on Sunday afternoon when they make the trip to The City Ground and take on Nottingham Forest before the international break.