West Ham United will be looking to continue their excellent start to the 2021-22 Premier League season when they head to Molineux on Saturday afternoon to face Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The high-flying Hammers are currently third in the table, three points behind leaders Chelsea, while Wolves occupy eighth position, just one point off sixth-placed Manchester United.
Match preview
© Reuters
Wolves struggled for results in the early stages of the campaign, losing four of their first five Premier League matches, which brought some early pressure on new head coach Bruno Lage.
The West Midlands outfit have been victorious in four of their last six in the league, though, suffering just one defeat in the process, which has seen them rise into eighth spot in the table, just one point behind sixth-placed Manchester United ahead of the next set of fixtures.
Wolves had been on a five-game unbeaten run between September 26 and November 6 but entered the international break off the back of a 2-0 loss at Crystal Palace, which just halted their progress.
Lage's team will be feeling much better about themselves following a tough start to the season, though, and will be looking to return to winning ways against West Ham, having lost their last two matches against the London club, including a 3-2 defeat at Molineux back in April.
© Reuters
West Ham, meanwhile, have won seven, drawn two and lost two of their 11 league matches this season to collect 23 points, which has left them third in the table, level on points with second-placed Man City and just three points behind leaders Chelsea.
The Hammers recorded a 3-2 victory over Liverpool before the international break, which made it seven matches unbeaten in all competitions, with the capital outfit also advancing to the knockout round of the Europa League with two matches to spare, in addition to booking their spot in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.
West Ham have two difficult away league matches to end the month, following this contest with a clash against Man City, while David Moyes's team will also welcome Chelsea at the start of December.
The London club finished sixth in the table last season, just two points outside of the Champions League positions, and they certainly have the look of a top-four side at this moment in time.
West Ham, as mentioned, will be eyeing a third straight win over Wolves, but they did suffer four straight defeats to the West Midlands outfit between September 2018 and June 2020.
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Wolves will again be without the services of Fernando Marcal, Pedro Neto, Hugo Bueno, Jonny Castro and Yerson Mosquera for this weekend's contest.
However, Lage's team do not have any fresh fitness concerns ahead of this match, meaning that the team should be similar to the one that lined up against Palace before the international break.
Raul Jimenez and Hwang Hee-chan are certainties in the final third of the field, while there could also be a spot for Daniel Podence, who is facing competition from Adama Traore and Francisco Trincao.
As for West Ham, Angelo Ogbonna is out with a long-term knee injury, but Declan Rice is expected to be available, having recovered from the illness that forced him to withdraw from the England squad.
Pablo Fornals is also likely to overcome a knock to start, meaning that there might be just one change to the side that started against Liverpool, with Craig Dawson coming in for the injured Ogbonna.
Michail Antonio scored twice for Jamaica over the recent international break and will again lead the line, with the 31-year-old looking to add to the six Premier League goals that he has managed this term.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Kilman, Coady, Saiss; Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Ait-Nouri; Podence, Jimenez, Hee-Chan
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Johnson, Zouma, Dawson, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice; Bowen, Benrahma, Fornals; Antonio
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-2 West Ham United
West Ham will be bidding to record their fifth league victory in a row this weekend, but Wolves have been impressive in recent weeks, and we are finding it difficult to separate the two sides; it would not be a surprise to see another away victory here, but we have had to settle on an entertaining draw.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a West Ham United win with a probability of 44.58%. A win for Wolverhampton Wanderers had a probability of 27.91% and a draw had a probability of 27.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a West Ham United win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.67%) and 0-2 (8.65%). The likeliest Wolverhampton Wanderers win was 1-0 (9.59%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.89%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 9.6% likelihood.
