West Ham’s disappointing season continued as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday evening. A rare recent defeat for the Hammers under Anthony Taylor, and a fourth consecutive win against WHUFC for Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo (with a combined 8-0 scoreline in favour of the Midlands outfit). An even more disappointing result given that fellow strugglers Brighton and Watford both managed to pick up something from their games against Arsenal and Leicester respectively.

Here is a look at the talking points from the game.

Woeful Felipe Anderson: It was another disappointing day at the office for West Ham’s star Brazilian, as has unfortunately been the case for most of this season. He was expected to be the Hammers’ key attacking threat, but did little of note, and was subbed off midway through the second half for Manuel Lanzini.

There was one occasion early in the first half when West Ham had a promising opportunity on the counter after a Wolves corner. Anderson found himself on a 1 on 1 with Ruben Neves on the wing, and you would’ve backed an in-form version of the Brazilian to get past Neves. Instead the latter comfortably nicked the ball off him, and put in a delightful diagonal that very nearly resulted in Wolves scoring at the other end.

There’s even a video circulating on social media of Anderson missing an attempt from point blank range during the warm up- perhaps a sign of what was to come during the actual game. A fit and firing Anderson would greatly aid West Ham’s quest for survival, but he’s gone missing too many times this season.

Traore the punisher: Adama Traore had scored the winner in the corresponding fixture last season and he was again West Ham’s tormentor-in-chief here.

While Wolves was the better side, their dominance didn’t show on the scoreline until Traore was unleashed off the bench. He was a constant menace down the right wing, brushing off opposition players as if they weren’t there, and causing all kinds of problems with his pace and strength. It was a delightful Traore cross that lead to Diogo Jota scoring the opener. [Read more…]

West Ham will play their first Premier League game after the Coronavirus enforced break when they host Wolverhampton Wanderers this evening. The Hammers will be looking to create some distance between themselves and the drop zone, while the visitors will go level on points with 5th placed Manchester United should they win at the London Stadium.

West Ham might be a tad more comfortable with the referee for this game than Wolves, given both sides’ recent records under him.

Here is a look at what the pundits have to predict for this game.

Mark Lawrenson: At the BBC, Lawro says that “there’s often a negative vibe at the London Stadium” and thinks that the lack of fans might actually help the Hammers. He also adds that West Ham “are better than their position in the table suggests” and has backed them to win this 1-0. [Read more…]