Wolves picked up three points against West Ham on Tuesday night, almost confirming their Premier League status for another campaign.
The Old Gold dominated the first half of the game and opened the deadlock through Jorgen Strand Larsen, seeing his deflected effort beat Alphonse Areola.
In truth, Wolves were unfortunate not to double their lead as Marshall Munetsi missed a gilt-edged chance, firing his close-range effort at the crossbar.
Luckily, squandering chances didn’t come back to bite them as a resolute defensive performance in the second half saw Wolves beat West Ham 1-0, moving them 12 points clear of the bottom three.
Vitor Pereira was delighted with the victory but also criticised one of his players after nearly giving him a heart attack.
Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Toti Gomes ‘tried to kill’ Vitor Pereira vs West Ham
West Ham went in search of an equaliser in the second period, carrying the fight through the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta.
The Hammers piled a lot of pressure on Jose Sa’s goal and arguably should have equalised through Evan Ferguson but the defence stood firm.
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There were, however, some shaky moments from Toti Gomes, who misplaced a few passes in his own half and gave possession away in some dangerous areas.
Toti is usually excellent at distributing the ball out of defence but his performance in this clash was out of character, with Pereira claiming the Portuguese international ‘tried to kill’ him, as per journalist Nathan Judah.
VP: Toti tried to kill me tonight 😆😭#wwfc pic.twitter.com/jeNCFE5Kxn
— Nathan Judah (@NathanJudah) April 1, 2025
Luckily, the 26-year-old being careless on the ball didn’t cost his team and they held on for three points but that second half display was a warning to Pereira.
Toti stats vs West Ham
Typically, Toti was strong defensively, winning his ground duels and flying into tackles. He was also solid aerially, protecting the left side of the defence well against the threat of Bowen.
As suggested by Pereira’s comment, though, he wasn’t the greatest in possession, misplacing 11 of his passes and losing the ball a whopping 15 times.
Toti Gomes stats vs West Ham
90 minutes played
11 clearances
4 tackles
4/6 ground duels won
15 times possession lost
37/48 passes completed (77%)
1 accurate long ball
It was an off-colour display from the relentlessly consistent defender and he will need to cut out those mistakes against Ipswich Town on Saturday.