West Ham's hopes of staying in the Premier League took a major boost with an emphatic four-goal victory over Wolves at the London Stadium, plunging rivals Tottenham into the bottom three in the process.
Both sides had plenty of chances to break the deadlock in the opening 45, but it was the home side that opened the scoring on 42 minutes. Captain Jarrod Bowen delivered the ball into the middle, where Konstantinos Mavropanos was on hand to head into the back of the net.
With the game still on a knife edge heading into the midway point of the second half, two goals in the space of two minutes from Taty Castellanos made sure of the three points for West Ham, sending the home crowd into raptures.
Mavropanos put the icing on the cake with seven minutes to go, firing home from a Bowen corner to make it three goals in as many games for the defender. Victory for the Hammers moves them two points clear of Tottenham, who travel to Sunderland on Sunday.
Story of the Match
Having fielded a rotated side in the FA Cup against Leeds, West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo returned to a full strength eleven, with Mads Hermansen, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Tomas Soucek, Pablo and Crysencio Summerville returning to the fold. Meanwhile, Rob Edwards made just one change from his side's 2-2 draw at Brentford as Andre Gomes came into the starting eleven, taking the place of Matheus Mane.
Wolves looked the more threatening early on and had a great chance to take the lead inside the opening two minutes. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde forayed into the box before looking to pick out Hugo Bueno, but Kyle Walker-Peters was on hand to make a vital interception.
Two minutes later, the visitors provided an early test for Hermansen when midfielder Andre let fly from distance, firing narrowly over the bar. Meanwhile, up the other end, the Hammers soon sparked into life with a well-worked move. Jarrod Bowen set up Mateus Fernandes, who lofted the ball into the path of Summerville, but the winger failed to hit the target from close range.
However, it was Wolves who created the better opportunities in the opening quarter of the game as a header from Yerson Mosquera left Hermansen scrambling, but the ball was put wide much to the relief of the Dane.
West Ham soon started to find their feet, though, as the ball fell to Bowen inside the 18-yard box but his shot proved comfortable for Jose Sa, before a Taty Castellanos header was put onto the roof of the net.
However, the home side almost found themselves behind after El Hadji Malick Diouf gifted possession to Ladislav Krejci, who set up Adam Armstrong, who fired off-target. The forward had another chance just moments later from a long throw-in, but his header was caught by the goalkeeper.
In the closing stages of the first half, Mavropanos headed the ball into the path of Bowen, who prodded the ball towards goal only to deflect off Krejci and into the arms of the goalkeeper.
However, three minutes before the break, West Ham made the breakthrough - Bowen crossed towards Mavropanos, who rose the highest to head home. The Hammers nearly added a swift second when Castellanos played through Pablo, whose shot was kept out by Sa.
The second half very much got off to a lively start. An excellent free-kick from Angel Gomes struck the post, before the Hammers broke away on the counterattack, led by Summerville, who caught Sa off his line only for his effort to go wide.
Just minutes later, West Ham had another chance to double their advantage, this time through Bowen. The captain got the better of Krejci before cutting in onto his left foot and seeing his shot cannon of the post.
The visitors looked to respond from another Angel Gomes free-kick, though his effort sailed wide. But midway through the second half, the home side doubled their advantage. Summerville broke forward into the Wolves half, picking out Castellanos, who combined brilliantly with Pablo, resulting in the Argentine striker slotting home.
Straight from kick-off, West Ham added a third when Bowen won back possession before setting up Castellanos on the edge of the area, who took a touch before picking out the bottom corner to score his second of the evening.
The Hammers were not done there though as a Bowen corner was headed on by Soucek and into the path of Mavropanos, who netted his second of the game from close range. Substitute Adama Traore almost got in on the act but his effort was put wide.