Duce of the chasers in the battle for Europe

Not only is the League Cup final on the agenda in England this weekend, but the 27th matchday with eight games will also be played in the motherland of football. According to the table situation, the absolute top game this weekend is the clash between table neighbours West Ham and Wolverhampton at the Hammers’ London Stadium.

After all, this clash pits two teams against each other, both of whom are not only fighting for a European starting spot, but even have a realistic chance of finishing fourth and thus qualifying for the Champions League. Wolves were still in action on Thursday night, suffering a late defeat at Arsenal London in their top-of-the-table clash. As a result, Wolves remain behind the Hammers but could move past West Ham with a win on Sunday. However, bookmakers see West Ham as relatively clear favourites against Wolverhampton according to current betting odds.

Whereas Wolves have been in a great form for a couple of weeks now and are going from success to success. The clear underdog role with betting odds of just under 4.00 is therefore very surprising. The match kicks off on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.

West Ham – Statistics & current form

The Moyes eleven are one of the few teams in the Premier League without a game of catch-up remaining and will actually play their 27th league game of the year on Sunday. Still, the schedule is tight for the Europa League contender in the coming weeks. After last year’s strong season, the capital eleven can confirm these performances and is also in the mix for the international starting places this season.

Slow form since the turn of the year

Despite this, it must be clearly stated that the performance curve has been pointing downwards since the turn of the year. In 2022, the Moyes eleven has not yet been able to convince completely and has already had to accept some bitter and unnecessary losses of points. As a result, the club has fallen behind a little and is now four points behind fourth place in the table. In an adjusted table, the Hammers could still be caught up by Wolves (one game behind) and Tottenham (two games behind).

What is striking about the Hammers this season is the frequency of bets on goals from both teams. This has been the case in 17 of the 26 league games, and with no other team in the English football top flight has this bet been the right decision more often. For West Ham against Wolverhampton, odds of 1.90-1.95 are offered for this bet. The completion figures are also very good, as 45 of the 329 shots were successful. A 13.7 per cent strike rate is the highest figure for West Ham United since data was collected (1997/98 season).

With eight goals, Michail Antonio is the Hammers’ top scorer this season, along with Jarrod Bowen. However, Wolves are the opponent against whom he has played most often without scoring (ten games or 820 minutes). Talking about Jarrod Bowen – besides his eight goals he also has ten assists to his name, never before has an English West Ham player collected more scorers in a single PL season.

Predicted West Ham line-up:
Fabianski – Cresswell, Dawson, Zouma, Fredericks – Soucek, Rice – Fornals, Benrahma, Bowen – Antonio

Last matches played by West Ham:

Premier League
02/19 2022 – West Ham 1 – 1 Newcastle United

02/13 2022 – Leicester 2 – 2 West Ham

02/08 2022 – West Ham 1 – 0 Watford

FA Cup
02/05 2022 – Kidderminster 1 – 2 West Ham

Premier League
01/22 2022 – Manchester United 1 – 0 West Ham

Wolverhampton – Statistics & current form

For a long time it looked like a surprising win for Wolves at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday. The visitors led until the 82nd minute before Nicolas Pepe equalised and in minute 90+6 Lacazette gave the Gunners a flattering victory. This was Wolverhampton’s second league loss to Arsenal London in 14 days. Those two defeats were also Wolves’ only losses in their last nine league games.

Wolverhampton in strong form

Winning six of their last nine league games, Wolverhampton have moved close to the international starting places. 40 points after 25 games played is even two points more from Wolves’ point of view than in the strong promotion season 2018/19. The way Wolverhampton play football is not always particularly attractive, but exceedingly successful.

Even under Bruno Lage, the main focus is on the defence and up front a single goal is often enough to bring success. On average, just 1.76 goals per game were scored in Wolves’ Premier League matches in 2021/22. The lowest figure by far, of course. In more than half of all games, there was a maximum of one goal (13/25). Recently, however, there have been more matches in which both teams have scored at least once. In the 2-1 defeat against Arsenal, this was already the case for the fourth time in the last six games. With West Ham vs. Wolverhampton, this also speaks in favour of the prediction that both teams will score.

Sunday is gradually becoming a day of success

For a long time, the last day of the week was not a day of joy for Wolves fans. Not because of the upcoming Monday, but rather because Wolves have rarely been successful in the Premier League. In 13 games there were just three wins, but in the recent past the Lage eleven finally seems to be able to produce top sporting performances on Sundays. Wolves have won three of the last four Sunday matches (one draw). In contrast, West Ham have not won any of their last five games on Sunday.

Predicted Wolverhampton line-up:
Sa – Coady, Saiss, Kilman – Ait-Nouri, Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Semedo – Jimenez, Podence

Last matches played by Wolverhampton:

Premier League
02/24 2022 – Arsenal London 2 – 1 Wolverhampton

02/20 2022 – Wolverhampton 2 – 1 Leicester

02/13 2022 – Tottenham 0 – 2 Wolverhampton

02/10 2022 – Wolverhampton 0 – 1 Arsenal London

FA Cup
02/05 2022 – Wolverhampton 0 – 1 Norwich

West Ham – Wolverhampton Direct comparison / H2H record

Last season, the Moyes eleven managed an emphatic 4-0 win at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers. For West Ham it was the first home win after three home defeats in a row against Wolves. If they can win again this weekend, the Hammers will have won two league home games in a row against Wolves for the first time since October 2004. The first leg this season ended in a 1-0 win for Wolverhampton, with Mexican Raul Jimenez the match-winner with his goal.

West Ham – Wolverhampton Tip

Theoretical chance to reach the top flight is there, but for this both teams urgently need a win. The loser of this match will have to deal with the Europa League or Conference League at the most. Accordingly, this match is trend-setting and given the strong form of the visitors, the high odds for a win for the visitors in West Ham against Wolverhampton are a little surprising.

More than four times the stake is tempting in the event of a Wolves win. Of course, this is a risky bet, but with low stakes it could prove to be well worth it.