West Ham United are seeking their first points of the Premier League season as they prepare for the visit of Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday evening.
The Hammers have lost their opening two league games of the campaign, while Wolves have a mixed return of one win and one defeat so far.
Match preview
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Two games into the Premier League season and David Moyes is already the clear favourite to be the first manager sacked on the back of United's slow start.
Moyes's men followed up a 2-0 loss at home to Newcastle United on the opening weekend with a late 2-1 defeat against Arsenal and have a tough run of fixtures to come.
Indeed, the meeting with Arsenal was the first of six in a row against last season's top eight, culminating in a trip to champions Liverpool on Halloween weekend.
Taking time to get going is nothing new for the Irons, though, having lost two of their opening three matches in two of the last three seasons.
United, who did manage to brush aside Hull City in the EFL Cup third round in midweek, must also cope without their manager in the dugout this weekend.
The Scotsman tested positive for coronavirus hours before kickoff against Hull in a farcical situation and must now self-isolate, meaning that Alan Irvine will take charge.
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This is not a fixture United tend to do well in, either, losing their last four league encounters with Wolves without scoring a single goal.
Unlike their opponents, Nuno Espirito Santo's charges have had a full week's rest, too, after being eliminated from the EFL Cup in the second round.
Nuno will know that there are areas to improve on following the 3-1 loss to Manchester City last time out, with Wolves deservedly beaten after taking too long to get going.
Raul Jimenez pulled one back after Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden had given City some breathing space, only for Gabriel Jesus to wrap up the victory late on.
Wanderers do have some points on the board, however, thanks to a 2-0 victory against Sheffield United on the opening weekend, and have a nice set of fixtures ahead.
That includes this trip to the London Stadium, where West Ham have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 matches - their longest such run in more than a decade.
West Ham United Premier League form: LL
West Ham United form (all competitions): LWLW
Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League form: WL
Wolverhampton Wanderers form (all competitions): WLL
Team News
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Issa Diop and Josh Cullen were pulled out of United's starting lineup against Hull after returning positive coronavirus tests and will play no part versus Wolves.
If that cup tie was a chance for fringe players to force their way into contention, Sebastien Haller, Robert Snodgrass, Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko may feature here.
However, it is more likely that Michail Antonio, who has scored 60% of United's league goals in 2020, will lead the line once again.
As for the visitors, eyebrows were raised after they splashed out a massive £37m to sign Nelson Semedo from Barcelona in the week.
The right-back was signed as a replacement for Matt Doherty and is expected to come straight into the side for this one, allowing Adama Traore to push forward.
On the opposite flank, Ruben Vinagre is in line to start after Marcal pulled up inside 10 minutes on his first home start for Wolves last time out.
Up top, Jimenez has scored three goals in his last three Premier League games against West Ham, including the opening goal in his side's 2-0 win at the London Stadium last season.
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Fredericks, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku; Bowen, Rice, Soucek, Fornals; Antonio
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Patricio; Boly, Coady, Saiss; Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Vinagre; Traore, Jimenez, Podence
We say: West Ham United 1-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers
West Ham picked up a morale-boosting victory in the EFL Cup in midweek and will be desperate to carry that into the Premier League.
Without their manager in the dugout, however, and with Wolves fully rested, we are expecting the Irons' home struggles to continue.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:dataVideo prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Daniel Lewis
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 37.03%. A win for Wolverhampton Wanderers had a probability of 35.96% and a draw had a probability of 27%.
The most likely scoreline for a West Ham United win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.35%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.09%) and 2-0 (6.53%). The likeliest Wolverhampton Wanderers win was 0-1 (10.17%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.82%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 0.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that West Ham United would win this match.
