Vincent West
Dailysports's expert
Wolverhampton
West Ham
On January 14, Molyneux Stadium (Wolverhampton) will host the match of the 20th round of the English Premier League, in which Wolverhampton will compete with West Ham. The battle will start at 16:00 CET.
Wolverhampton
The club, after having a difficult start, parted the ways with Bruno Lage, although the game had been improving under his rule in the previous draw. The next coach, Julen Lopetegui, was persuaded to lead the team only by November. At that time, the situation for “the Wolves” seemed to become disastrous – the team appeared at the very bottom of the standings. But even with the Spanish specialist, it was able to win only one time in November – that was a cup match. In this tournament, by the way, “the Wolves” continued to be pretty good – what a spectacular, scandalous away draw in the struggle with Liverpool was taken. But the most important thing is that the team was able to add in the game after the break in the Premier League. The team “snatched” the victory in the match with Everton that is the direct competitor in the standings. The situation could have turned out better with the next opponents, but in those cases the goals, conceded closer to the end of the matches, didn’t let the dream come true. The team was defeated by Manchester United, missing in the 76th minute of the game, and allowed Aston Villa to get a draw in the 78th minute of the battle in Birmingham.
West Ham
The team would have got a new mentor right now, but it was able to beat strong Brentford in the away match on Saturday – the only goal was scored in the 79th minute by Benrahma. To tell the truth, that long-awaited success happened in the FA Cup match. “The Hammers” continue their struggle in the higher mentioned tournament, but is it really necessary for the club from London? After all, it is “skating on the thin ice” of the relegation zone in the Premier League – despite the fact that in both previous seasons there was a possibility to take part in European competitions and a lot of money was spent for the newcomers in the summer, 2022. There is no chance to win, even after a long pause for the World Cup. By the way, those were “the Bees” who got a 2-0 victory in the struggle with “the Hammers” in the championship. There was no chance in the match with Arsenal – a 1-3 defeat in December. And only in the battle with Leeds, scoring before the break and immediately after it, David Moyes' wards took at least a draw.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
West Ham has won 4 of 5 previous head-to-head matches, including the last autumn match, in which “the Hammers” have got a home 2-0 victory.
Predictions
Bookmakers consider the chances of the teams to be equal. Still, Wolverhampton is making progress, thus, it’s worth betting on the hosts – a win with “a 0 goal handicap” (odd: 1.95).
