Who will make a step out of the crisis?
The Premier League has now completed its eighth matchday in the new season, which is actually the ninth. However, as is well known, a weekend of matches was cancelled – following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Ahead of the West Ham v Wolverhampton game, the odds indicate favouritism for the hosts. West Ham have the home advantage on their side, but otherwise the season has not been outstanding. But the same applies to the visitors.
And so both teams are in a similar position and both coaches are already under a bit of pressure. This should now be defused and ideally that can be done with a win. Kick-off is on Saturday at 18:30
West Ham – Statistics & current form
West Ham United’s pre-season ambitions were certainly high. That is not surprising, because recently they have managed to gradually improve under coach David Moyes. But in the summer, the engine faltered a little in the transfer market, and the necessary breadth was not achieved in all positions. In addition, some new players, who were expected to do well in London, joined the team rather late. So the starting position was not ideal.
And that is exactly what happened on the pitch. West Ham’s start to the season did not go according to plan at all. Although there were two wins in the Conference League, the Hammers have already suffered five defeats from seven games in the domestic Premier League. With four points on the account, the team enters the matchday in 18th place, in a relegation spot.
The most recent defeat was 1-0 at Everton FC. The fact that they have already lost to three opponents who are at least not rated significantly higher than West Ham is causing concern at the club. Coach Moyes is not yet down for the count, but is at least under more intense scrutiny than he was at the start of the season.
Moyes and West Ham need to revitalise the attack
The big problem is the offense. Internationally it works very well, but in the league it does not. West Ham scored only three goals in seven games, which is a very weak record. No team has fewer goals to its name. In addition, they failed to score in five of the last eight games against Wolves. At least the other three duels, even three of the last four, were won.
Possible solutions are obvious: Scamacca, the new striker, who was initially injured, must now be integrated and fed. Antonio could move one position further back to generally create more force in the forward line. That could help West Ham enormously, because the last few performances were already very weak offensively.
But perhaps the break came at exactly the right time. In addition, at least defensively not too much was allowed. Because the opponents have also had really big problems in the new season so far, our value tip before the West Ham vs. Wolverhampton match is that the hosts can even record their second win.
Predicted West Ham line-up:
Fabianski – Coufal, Kehrer, Zouma, Emerson – Rice, Soucek, Paqueta, Antonio, Lanzini – Scamacca
Last matches played by West Ham:
Premier League
18/09/2022 – Everton 1 – 0 West Ham
Europa Conference League Grp. B
16/09/2022 – Silkeborg 2 – 3 West Ham
09/09/2022 – West Ham 3 – 1 FC FCSB
Premier League
03/09/2022 – Chelsea FC 2 – 1 West Ham
01/09/2022 – West Ham 1 – 1 Tottenham
Wolverhampton – Statistics & current form
Like West Ham, Wolverhampton have imagined a different start to the new season. The visitors spent a lot of money in the summer, Nunes, Guedes, Kalajdzic and Collins alone cost more than 100 million euros. But the current situation is dicey, because striker Kalajdzic has torn his cruciate ligament and not much else is going right either.
There is one parallel, apart from the weak start, between the two teams. West Ham and Wolverhampton have only three goals each and are the weakest offensive teams in the league. Because Wolves have also failed to win seven in a row away from home, our prediction ahead of the West Ham vs Wolverhampton game is that the hosts will not lose and that fewer than 3.5 goals will be scored in this match.
Seven Premier League games have been played and only ten goals have been scored in matches involving Wolves. That underlines the forecast once again. Most recently there was a 0:3 at home against Manchester City.
Bruno Lage must slowly get Wolverhampton on track
The only win of the season for the visitors came at home against Southampton, otherwise there is a lot of gloom. To counteract this, Bruno Lage must slowly but surely find solutions. As with Moyes, his chair is not yet wobbling threateningly, but the first crisis articles in the media are already finding space.
There is still one positive element, however, and that is the defence. Seven goals conceded from seven games is a good figure and in five of the last eight direct duels with the opponents West Ham there were no goals conceded. The downside, however, is obvious: the visitors have failed to score 20 times since the start of the 2021/22 season. Number 21 is now not to be added to that statistic.
Predicted Wolverhampton line-up:
José Sa – Semedo, Kilman, Mosquera, Ait-Nouri – Neves, Matheus Nunes, Moutinho – Pedro Neto, Guedes, Podence
Last matches played by Wolverhampton:
Premier League
17/09/2022 – Wolverhampton 0 – 3 Manchester City
03/09/2022 – Wolverhampton 1 – 0 Southampton
01/09/2022 – Bournemouth 0 – 0 Wolverhampton
28/08/2022 – Wolverhampton 1 – 1 Newcastle
Carabao Cup
24/08/2022 – Wolverhampton 2 – 1 Preston
West Ham – Wolverhampton Direct comparison / H2H record
West Ham and Wolverhampton have faced each other directly in 69 games so far. Wolves have won 23 of those games, while West Ham have come out on top 32 times. In the pre-season, both teams celebrated a 1-0 home win.
West Ham – Wolverhampton Tip
Two teams that have disappointed so far face each other in a direct duel. West Ham have the home advantage and have shown the slightly better footballing approach recently. But will that be enough?
This question will be answered in the 90 minutes. Before the match between West Ham and Wolverhampton, our tip is that the hosts will not lose and that the total number of goals will be less than 3.5.
