West Ham 3-0 Wolves - Mohammed Kudus at the double as Hammers comfortably ease to Premier League victory

A dominant West Ham swept aside Wolves with an emphatic 3-0 victory that if anything was kind to the visitors. The Hammers did not crush their opponents in the stats columns but always looked in control of the game against a toothless and vulnerable side.

Mohammed Kudus put his team two goals up within half an hour with two ruthless counter-attacking finishes orchestrated by Lucas Paqueta, before the Brazilian assisted Jarrod Bowen’s third that killed off any hope of a Wolves comeback.

Pablo Sarabia did have the ball in the net at one stage, but it was rightly ruled offside by VAR, as Wolves looked shorn of any attacking creativity for much of the game.

The Hammers run the gauntlet over the next month as they take on Manchester United, Arsenal and Brighton in the league plus Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, so David Moyes will rightly be delighted by his side’s ruthless put-down of Wolves at the London Stadium.

Brighton’s defeat to Arsenal means West Ham moved up to seventh, at least momentarily, level on points with Manchester United and only seven off the UEFA Champions League places but Wolves stay 13th, missing out on the chance to capitalise on defeats for Brentford and Fulham.

Vladimir Coufal appeared fortunate to stay on the pitch after catching Jean-Ricner Bellegarde with a flying forearm on a needlessly aggressive challenge high up the pitch, but he escaped even a yellow card.

Gary O’Neil would enter the book later in the first half mainly out of frustration, but aside from the Coufal non-decision the Wolves manager only had his own side to blame for the two-goal deficit as they were thoroughly outplayed in the opening period.

Bellegarde was one of two changes O’Neil made to his starting 11 but it was the enforced inclusion of Dan Bentley that caused more problems. A surprise switch after Jose Sa picked up a shoulder injury, Bentley did not seem to possess the same command of his penalty area as fellow stand-in Lukasz Fabianski at the other end.

There were several times he appeared caught in two minds as a cross came in, leaving his defence to mop up catchable deliveries, and he was too easily evaded by the first and third goals.

Matheus Cunha was the one bright spark for Wolves, last week’s goalscorer constantly looked to drive his side forward with the ball but his team-mates offered little outlet for that positivity.

The previously red-hot Hwang Hee-chan was well marshalled by West Ham’s defence and never looked like adding to his eight league goals this season, Wolves were occasionally threatening on the counter-attack but their more structured build-up play was rarely more dynamic than pedestrian.

If you had to guess which side had been involved in UEFA Europa League action less than 72 hours before kick-off at the London Stadium, you certainly would not have said the hosts.

With just one change to the side that sank Freiburg, West Ham were not on it straight from minute one but after sizing up the visitors, they quickly shifted into a gear that overpowered Wolves.

The midfield was a constant turnstile getting the ball quickly into the feet of their playmakers up front, and all three forwards were in the running for player of the match.

Kudus ran with purpose whenever he had possession and was a nightmare for Tito Gomes, just outworking him for West Ham’s second goal and later drawing a first-half yellow card as the frustrated full-back just shoved Kudus to the ground after being beaten for the umpteenth time.

Likewise, Bowen constantly found space in the Wolves backline and could have ended up with more than one goal but still moved up to joint-third in the race for the golden boot. Tied with Son Heung-Min, with just Mohammed Salah and Erling Haaland ahead.

Paqueta had an opportunity to get on the scoresheet late on as he raced through for a one-on-one with the Bentley but seemed to slow up assuming (incorrectly) he was offside before Max Kilman removed any doubt with a crunching tackle to kill the attack.

But that does not detract from the three assists he did end the game with, including masterful work for Kudus’ first goal. As West Ham broke from defending a corner he initially received possession isolated and did superbly to both keep hold of the ball and the attack moving forward, before feeding Kudus to do the rest.

He then cut a disjointed Wolves defence open with a single pass to create the second and earned a standing ovation when his afternoon’s shift was finished.

West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal 5, Aguerd 6, Zouma 6, Emerson 7, Soucek 6, Alvarez 7, Ward-Prowse 7, Paqueta 8, Bowen 8, Kudus 8. Subs: Fornals 7, Ings 6, Mubama 6, Kehrer 5

Wolves: Bentley 4, Semedo 5, Dawson 6, Kilman 5, Toti 5, Gomes 5, Lemina 5, Bellegarde 6, Sarabia 7, Hwang 6, Cunha 7. Subs: Ait-Nouri 6, Doherty 6, Doyle 6

22’ - GOAL! WEST HAM 1-0 WOLVES (KUDUS): And they make them pay! Paqueta received the ball in midfield and did brilliantly to keep it moving forward while isolated before playing in Kudus. Wolves managed to get three players behind the ball but he didn't care, cutting in from the right before firing past a wrong-footed Bentley from outside the box!

32’ - GOAL! WEST HAM 2-0 WOLVES (KUDUS): Paqueta X Kudus pays dividends yet again! A poor pass from Lemina was cut out and it only took one ball forward to carve West Ham apart. Toti, Dawson and Kilman were hopelessly out of sync in the defensive line and Kudus was virtually unchallenged as he burst through and finished well past Bentley.

58’ - GOAL! WEST HAM 2-1 WOLVES (SERABIA): From nowhere, Wolves are back in it! For now, VAR are checking though. It was a quick counter from the visitors, Bellegarde burst forward before switching the play right to Pablo Serabia. He laid it off to the overlapping Semedo but continued his run into the box and received the return ball at point-blank range and couldn't miss from there.

61’ - GOAL DISALLOWED - WEST HAM 2-0 WOLVES: Cheers from the home fans, bemusement from Wolves. Despite their protestations it wasn't particularly close, they'll need to go again from two down.

30’ - GOAL! WEST HAM 3-0 WOLVES (BOWEN): GAME OVER! And guess who assisted? Bowen plays a 1-2 with Paqueta and races away from the Wolves defence before rolling it across Bentley into the bottom corner for his tenth of the season.

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