We look ahead to Monday’s Premier League game at London Stadium with our West Ham vs Wolves prediction and preview. Both managers are in desperate need of a victory .
West Ham vs Wolves: The Key Insights
West Ham are favourites according to the Opta supercomputer, winning in 53.5% of its pre-match simulations.
Jarrod Bowen has scored five goals against Wolves in the Premier League, the joint-most he has managed against any opponent (level with Brentford)
Wolves have conceded the most goals in the Premier League this season (36).
Julen Lopetegui and Gary O’Neil both come into Monday’s Premier League clash in desperate need of a pressure-easing win.
West Ham have suffered morale-sapping defeats at home to Arsenal (5-2) and away to Leicester City (3-1) in their last two outings, with the loss at the King Power Stadium made all the more frustrating by the fact they had 31 shots at goal. It was their highest ever tally on record (since 2005-06) in a single Premier League match, and the most shots by a losing away team in the competition since November 2010 (Chelsea, 32 vs Birmingham).
Wolves’ recent form is no better than their hosts’. O’Neil’s men took 11 games to earn their first Premier League win of the season, following up a 2-0 victory over Southampton with a 4-1 success at Fulham, only to suffer back-to-back losses at home to Bournemouth and away to Everton in their last two, conceding four times in both games. Wolves last shipped 4+ goals in three consecutive league games in September 1985.
Lopetegui has the chance to turn things around against his former employers, and that this encounter falls on a Monday bodes well for the Hammers. They have won their last six Premier League home games played on a Monday, netting 2+ goals each time. Their last such defeat was in December 2019 against Arsenal (3-1).
The last five of Wolves’ last five Premier League games on a Monday have come away from home (W2 D1 L2). O’Neil has not won any of his three such games in charge of the club (D1 L2).
Having said that, Wolves have won four of their last six Premier League games in London (L2) after going winless in 14 straight such away trips between February 2022 and December 2023 (D3 L11). As mentioned, their last journey to the capital saw them impressively dispatch Fulham 4-1, with Matheus Cunha scoring twice in an inspired performance.
It could be a high-scoring affair at London Stadium, but not because either team are particularly ruthless going forward. West Ham have conceded 71 goals in 33 Premier League games so far in 2024 – their most league goals conceded in a single calendar year since 1976 (73 in 38 games). Meanwhile, Wolves have conceded the most goals in the Premier League this season (36).
José Sá cannot be entirely blamed for that leakiness, not least because he has only played in nine of Wolves’ 14 league games. However, it is notable that the Portuguese goalkeeper had the best goals prevented numbers of any goalkeeper based on Opta’s expected goals on target faced metric last season (8.2 – 65.2 xGOT faced, 57 goals conceded). Looking at the same metric this season, Sá has conceded five goals more than expected (16 xGOT faced, 21 goals conceded).
He will be hoping to keep West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen quiet on Monday. Bowen has scored five goals against Wolves in the Premier League, the joint-most he has managed against anyone (level with Brentford), with four of his five goals against them coming at home.
West Ham vs Wolves Head-to-Head
West Ham have won their last four Premier League home games against Wolves, keeping a clean sheet each time. In their league history, only twice have they won five in a row at home without conceding against an opponent – vs Coventry (1919 to 1937) and Wolves (1920 to 1958).
West Ham did the double over Wolves last season, winning 3-0 at London Stadium in December 2023 and 2-1 at Molineux in April.
West Ham v Wolves stats 2023-24
West Ham vs Wolves Prediction
Both teams need a win to ease pressure, and the Opta supercomputer thinks it will be West Ham who come away with the three points. Lopetegui gets a much-needed victory in 53.5% of the 10,000 pre-match simulations.
Wolves earn an away win in 22.7% of sims, while a draw that doesn’t really do either side any favours happens in the remaining 23.8%.
West Ham vs Wolves Prediction Opta Supercomputer
West Ham vs Wolves Predicted Lineups
West Ham predicted team v Wolves
Wolves predicted team v West Ham
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Monday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Opta Stats Hub Premier League
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