Anyway, it’s time to wrap this up. Barney Ronay was in situ at the London Stadium, and here’s his hot-off-the-press report. Enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM.
Here’s David Moyes! “Up until they brought on Traore, I thought we defended quite well. We’d limited them to not too many opportunities, but we were playing against a good team and I felt that. We were plugging away and trying to hang in there, but the difference was when Traore came on. We were a bit short up front today and would have to chase the game. A very strong and powerful winger came on and made a big difference. We need to play better, though for long periods we did OK. Ultimately I’m disappointed that we didn’t defend the crosses well, but Traore’s power and pace is hard to stop sometimes. We’ve got tough games but also other games that may suit us. I missed the fans, not having the home fans to drive you on.”
Nuno Espirito Santo talks. “We performed well, we were good. First half we were very organised, in control. We didn’t create, or finish the actions, but we produced a lot of situations. In the second half we had speed and improved delivery and did well. Players coming in can change the game, we try to use them in the right moments. We needed this to feel we are really back again. But it is too bad, the fans should be here, we want to dedicate this to them. But it is going to be different for everybody, and it’s good to have football back. But the players will never get used to it. Let’s hope and pray for a vaccine and we can be together again, and the players can play for the fans, because this is the meaning of football.”
An extremely happy Pedro Neto talks. “It was an unbelievable feeling to come back and have this result after three difficult months. We came back and we win. I am happy that I scored a goal but we’re already focused on the next game. Scoring is the best feeling in football, no? I feel I’ve done my job. The manager is happy. The most important thing in football is the fans, they give us the joy to play, and so it is difficult. But we are with the mindset that we will play without them.”
West Ham remain in 17th spot. They’re just one goal better off than 18th placed Bournemouth, but Eddie Howe’s side will leapfrog them if they can just avoid defeat against Crystal Palace later this evening. Wolves meanwhile pass Sheffield United into sixth spot, and they’re only behind fifth-placed Manchester United on goal difference. The run-in promises to be extremely exciting at both ends of the table.
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FULL TIME: West Ham United 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Adama Traore: supersub. His magical cross set up an unmissable opener. Then he started the move that resulted in Neto’s screamer. Wolves are serious contenders for a Champions League spot. West Ham are in real trouble near the bottom.
90 min +2: Jimenez is replaced by Gibbs-White.
90 min +1: Yarmolenko flays a simple pass out of play. Six months off, let’s cut him some slack.
90 min: Jonny makes way for Vinagre. There will be three added minutes.
88 min: West Ham look thoroughly deflated. It took a while for the difference to become manifest, but they’ve been thoroughly outclassed. They’re in proper relegation bother. “Neto is Portuguese for ‘grandson’,” writes Peter Oh. “He’ll be telling his grandkids about that goal.”
86 min: Wolves look like making it four wins against West Ham from four since their return to the top flight. Current aggregate score: 8-0.
PEARLER! West Ham United 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Neto 84)
This is an absolute belter! Traore slips Doherty away down the right. Doherty stands one up to the other flank. Neto, striding in from the left, meets the dropping ball with a vicious volley that flies over Fabianksi’s head and almost tears the netting away from its moorings. What a strike that is.
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83 min: Antonio glides in from the left touchline, away from a pack of Wolves, and whips a fierce curler towards the top right. It’s a fine effort, but just a little bit too high.
81 min: Soucek heads Moutinho’s clipped free kick away from danger. West Ham then make a double change, replacing Ngakia with Fredericks and Fornals with Yarmolenko, the Ukrainian making his first appearance since December.
80 min: Moutinho plays it short, one-twoing with Jonny. He then nutmegs Ngakia, who crudely bodychecks him. A free kick just to the left of the West Ham box.
79 min: Rice sticks to Traore, causing bother out on the right again. But it’s a corner to Wolves. Moutinho hits it long. Doherty heads it onto Antonio’s arm. Too close for a penalty, but it’ll be another corner, this time from the left.
77 min: Bowen drives down the right and crosses. He nearly reaches Antonio, but Coady is on point to clear. David Moyes coupon status: haunted.
75 min: A corner for West Ham out on the right. It’s hit long, and Rice tries to head home from a tight angle on the left. Rui Patricio is forced to turn it round the post. From the second corner, Lanzini curls a delicate cross in from the left that misses Soucek’s head by a couple of inches. Had that been lower, Soucek surely couldn’t miss. A decent response by West Ham to falling behind.
74 min: David Moyes coupon status: concerned.
GOAL! West Ham United 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Jimenez 73)
Traore has another go down the right. One burst, and he’s away from Fornals. Another quick one, and he’s past Cresswell. He reaches the byline and whips a looping cross over Fabianski, taking the keeper out of the game, and down towards Jimenez, who can’t miss with his header from a couple of yards. What an impact Traore’s had! That is magnificent wingplay.
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72 min: Traore turns on the jets for the first time and whistles down the right wing. It’s a fine run, leaving three claret shirts in his wake, but the cross isn’t anywhere near Jimenez. But never mind, because ...
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70 min: Bowen chases a long ball down the inside right. He enters the box, and goes over Saiss’s leg. He wants a penalty, but he’s only getting a corner. There’s a VAR check, and Saiss got a touch on the ball. Rui Patricio plucks the corner from the sky with ease. He sends a drop kick upfield, and is accidentally caught by Antonio as he does so. The referee briefly considers showing the West Ham man a second yellow, but common sense soon prevails, and everyone’s smiling.
69 min: All gone! Everyone refreshed, we go again.
67 min: West Ham respond to the Wolves swap with a change of their own. Felipe Anderson is replaced by Lanzini. And that’s drinks!
66 min: Antonio slips and twists at the same time, and for a horrible second it looks as though he’s damaged either his left knee or ankle. But thankfully after a few seconds of grimacing, he’s back up and running.
64 min: Wolves make the first change of the evening, and it’s a double sub. Jota and the quiet Dendoncker are replaced by Neto and Traore.
63 min: The ball hits the ref as Wolves ping it around. The play has to stop. Jonny is livid, and is pretty fortunate to escape a booking as he slams the ball onto the turf with great fury. The game restarts without further drama.
62 min: Antonio is booked for a reckless slide on Saiss.
61 min: Moutinho rakes a long pass down the left for Otto, who hooks into the middle. Jimenez traps, but can’t quite control to get a shot away from the penalty spot. Cresswell steps in to clear.
59 min: Wolves triangulate down the right, Doherty nearly breaking through, but West Ham hold their shape.
57 min: Then Moutinho suddenly gifts West Ham possession with a loose pass. Felipe Anderson makes to break, and has his heel clipped by the Wolves man. Moutinho goes into the referee’s book.
56 min: Wolves ping it around again in a very patient style.
54 min: Jota beats Ngakia to the ball down the Wolves left, perhaps with a cheeky use of his arm. Or was that Ngakia’s arm? The ball was pinging around some. Anyway, he’s allowed to continue, and tries to pull of a long-distance one-two with Jimenez. Jota’s clear down the middle, but his partner can’t find him with the return. A real chance to open West Ham up is spurned.
52 min: Ngakia fouls Jimenez out on the left. Moutinho looks like he’s going to put this one into the box. In it goes, though it’s cleared easily enough.
50 min: Felipe Anderson’s handball gifts Wolves a free kick out on the right. Wolves load the box ... and Moutinho plays it backwards to Coady. That just about sums this game up. Where’s Adama Traore?
48 min: Ngakia, who looks a player, drops a shoulder to make some ground down the inside-right channel, drifts inside, and fizzes a low long-distance shot straight at Rui Patricio. The Wolves keeper forced into work for the first time this evening.
47 min: Wolves stroke it around the back awhile. They’re in no rush.
We go again. West Ham get the ball rolling for the second half, with Mary Waltz’s words ringing in their ears. “That was dreadfully dull. I understand the boys have not played for over 100 days but could we please have a little quality in the scoring zone.” I suspect Mary speaks for a fair few of us. Here’s to a belter of a second half, eh? No changes yet.
Half-time entertainment. A reminder that the BBC will be showing live top-flight action for the first time since 1988 tonight, when Bournemouth take on Crystal Palace. Here’s Paul MacInnes on a big evening for Auntie ...
... and here’s what happened when the Beeb showed live football for the very first time back in 1937.
HALF TIME: West Ham United 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
The scoreline pretty much covers it. Whoever’s operating the FX box has the brass neck to pipe in some applause.
45 min: There will be one added minute.
44 min: Ngakia swings one in from the right. Boly clears. Cresswell tries again from the left. Boly clears again. Rui Patricio still hasn’t been seriously worked ... but West Ham will at least be happy that they’ve stemmed the flow of Wolves attacks.
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42 min: They’re giving me nothing to work with. West Ham still haven’t had a shot on target.
40 min: Do the dreams of the virtual West Ham crowd fade and die as well? It would seem a bit gratuitous to program in that particular backstory and lumber the little computer people with all that.
38 min: A chorus of Bubbles from the virtual West Ham faithful. Decent effects to be fair. There’s not much else to report.
37 min: Cresswell earns a corner out on the left. Rui Patricio plucks it from the sky.
36 min: Dendoncker makes good down the right, and pulls back a cross for Jimenez, who has held his run. Jimenez shapes like Zidane in the 2002 Champions League final but doesn’t make quite so sweet a connection. His shot is blocked easily enough.
35 min: This hasn’t been great. Look on the bright side: nobody’s had to pay to watch it.
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34 min: Jota has half a chance to shoot from a tight angle on the left. He hesitates and lays off to Jimenez, who batters a shot straight into Ngakia. From the resulting corner, Jota tries a curler from the left. Easy for the keeper.
32 min: Neither team seems particularly inspired right now.
30 min: Jota probes again down the left. He twists and turns, shimmies and shakes, and slaps a weak cross-cum-shot into the arms of Fabianksi at the near post.
29 min: Saiss brazenly swipes at Soucek out on the West Ham right. He could easily have been booked for that, but it’s just a free kick. West Ham load the box, but Bowen can’t beat the first man with his delivery and the threat is over.
28 min: Antonio bursts down the right and gets the better of Saiss. His cross nearly finds Bowen, but Coady is on hand to deal with it. West Ham have improved immeasurably since their dreadful opening quarter-hour, though the bar was low.
26 min: The game restarts, everyone nicely refreshed. Action, please!
25 min: And that’s drinks! While the players imbibe, the Sky camera pans across the West Ham directors’ box. The Davids Gold and Sullivan sheepishly reposition the masks they’re not wearing properly when they notice they’re on television.
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23 min: Fornals is impeded 40 yards from goal. Noble floats the free kick into the Wolves box. A game of head tennis breaks out. West Ham double-fault or something, and the whistle goes.
21 min: Bowen takes it, and dumps it on the top of the goal netting. The whistle had gone for some over-zealous attacking activity anyway.
20 min: Wolves have had four corners already. West Ham get their first, the result of Soucek’s ambitious long drive pinging off Coady. It’ll be taken once the referee sorts out all the pushing and shoving in the box.
18 min: ... and he proves it by romping down the right, before floating a cross towards nobody in particular at the far post and out for a goal kick. But again, that’s a little better from the hosts. “West Ham seem to be taking this social distancing to extremes. They’re standing off their Wolves counterparts so much they’re in danger of anti-social distancing.” Justin Kavanagh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the pie and liquor.
17 min: Bowen is clattered by Neves. He picks himself up after rubbing his hip awhile. He’s good to continue.
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15 min: Another corner for Wolves on the left. Fabianski punches Moutinho’s delivery clear. Felipe Anderson tries to scamper upfield on the break, but Neves slides in to put a stop to his gallop, then sprays a delightful diagonal ball towards Jota, just inside the West Ham box on the left. Jota tries to hoick towards Jimenez at the far post. Had he judged it correctly, it would have been a simple header from six yards for Jimenez. But he overcooks it, and the danger is over. Wolves are in total control here.
14 min: This is better, albeit another long ball down the channel. Noble creams one down the right and releases Fornals, who steps into the Wolves box before lashing wildly over the bar, and wide too. If nothing else, a sign that Wolves can be got at.
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13 min: Otto is afforded plenty of space down the left. He nearly finds Boly at the far post. Cresswell is forced to concede a corner. Nothing comes of it. But you can be sure that, were this stadium full, a full and frank musical back-and-forth would be underway already. West Ham have been abysmal so far.
11 min: West Ham’s shtick today appears to be all about releasing Antonio down the channels. Here Noble tries to get him going down the inside left, but the pass is no good and Boly strides in to intercept.
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9 min: Nothing much happens at the second corner. But this is an impressive start by Wolves, and a worryingly passive one by the hosts. Another attack’s quickly launched by the visitors, and Jota is allowed to dribble for what seems like an age down the left. He’s eventually crowded out, but West Ham need to wake up toot sweet.
8 min: Boly attacks Moutinho’s corner, but West Ham half clear. The ball ends up at Moutinho’s feet again, soon enough, and he wins another corner.
7 min: Jonny plays a cute reverse pass down the left wing to release Jota into space. Jota earns a corner. Moutinho will take it.
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6 min: ... but otherwise Wolves have been hogging possession during these early exchanges. West Ham seem happy enough to sit back and work them out, to be fair.
4 min: Ngakia strides down the right and attempts to release Antonio with a curled pass down the channel. Too strong, and it’s an easy gather for Rui Patricio.
3 min: Jimenez probes down the left and reaches the byline, but upon attempting to burst into the box the ball breaks away from him and Fabianski is able to smother.
2 min: West Ham have hardly touched the ball yet.
The game gets underway. Jota embarks on an early run down the inside-right channel. He’s allowed to run and run and run, and is presented with a half-chance of shooting from the edge of the box. But he decides against it, can’t find a team-mate, and loses control.
Wolves kick off ... and immediately all 22 players take a knee. Black lives matter.
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The teams are out! West Ham wear their late 70s retro claret shirts, while Wolves - who take their sweet time to arrive - sport old gold. We’ll be underway soon, but before kick-off, there’s a minute of silence in honour of those who have lost their lives to the virus.
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Nuno Espirito Santo speaks! “It was tough moments for everybody. There were moments of tension, doubts, anxiety, and that stays there. But this is the end of the season ... or the beginning of a new one? In football we have never experienced three months without activity, so it’s a new experience for us, and a challenge. We cannot know how the players will react. The fans are irreplaceable.”
David Moyes talks! “It’ll be difficult because the supporters have always given us a great backing here,” he begins with an admirably straight face. “But there will be some players who it works for them, and others it doesn’t. Maybe young players who most of their career have played in front of no crowd, it’ll work better for them, maybe the more experienced will find it difficult. The truth is, none of us really know. But overall I think everyone will be fine with it. Wolves are having a great season, they’re doing an incredible job, it’s a tough opponent. But we felt we were playing relatively well before we finished up, so we want to try and show it. But we always need to improve. I want to build something and take the club forward, and not be around the bottom of the league.”
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Two changes for West Ham from the side that narrowly lost at Arsenal before the break. Angelo Ogbonna and Sebastian Haller are out; Felipe Anderson and Tomas Soucek come in. Ogbonna and record signing Haller are both denizens of West Ham’s crowded treatment room, along with Pablo Zabaleta, Arthur Masuaku and Robert Snodgrass, none of whom are available.
Wolves make two changes to the team that drew 1-1 at Olympiacos in the Europa League just before lockdown. Jonny Otto and Leander Dendoncker come in for Ruben Vinagre and Adama Traore, both of whom drop to the bench.
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The teams
West Ham United: Fabianski, Ngakia, Rice, Diop, Cresswell, Noble, Soucek, Antonio, Fornals, Felipe Anderson, Bowen.
Subs: Balbuena, Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Wilshere, Fredericks, Ajeti, Randolph, Johnson, Xande Silva.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Rui Patricio, Saiss, Coady, Boly, Doherty, Dendoncker, Neves, Joao Moutinho, Jonny, Jimenez, Jota.
Subs: Jordao, Neto, Podence, Gibbs-White, Ruddy, Vinagre, Traore, Kilman, Rasmussen.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).
Preamble
West Ham United are in relegation bother. After a pre-lockdown run of six defeats in nine matches, picking up just five points from a possible 27, they’re in 17th spot and desperately need a win.
Wolverhampton Wanderers might not be the team to oblige. Nuno Espirito Santo’s excellent side are chasing a Champions League place. They’ve only lost one of their last eight, and that a narrow defeat to Liverpool. They’ve stifled Manchester United at Old Trafford, and come from behind to win at Spurs. They’ve also beaten West Ham in all three meetings since their return to the top flight, to an aggregate score of 6-0.
West Ham will also be concerned about their own home record: they’ve lost half of their 14 fixtures at the London Stadium this season. But there’s a flip side: no fans! The mood in E20 having been less than positive since the regrettable move away from Upton Park. Hey, it’s a straw to clutch at, and David Moyes will take all he can get right now.
Will the Hammers come out of lockdown newly energised? Or will Wolves continue their push for their first tilt at the European Cup since 1960? We’ll find out soon enough. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm.
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