West Ham United will undoubtedly need a bit of luck to go their way this season – and they certainly got that against Wolves.
While West Ham’s emphatic 4-0 win over Wolves was well deserved, the size of the scoreline shouldn’t make people forget just how nervy the first half was at the London Stadium.
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A graphic asking West Ham United fans to rate Taty Castellanos' performance vs Wolves/
Credit: Getty Images/Rob Newell – CameraSport
That’s not a criticism. It was to be expected, with West Ham desperately needing to win.
In truth, the nerves weren’t really settled until Konstantinos Mavropanos nodded in Jarrod Bowen’s cross three minutes before half time.
It was a fine cross from Bowen, although there was an element of fortune in it.
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Bowen admits West Ham shouldn’t have had a corner before West Ham goal against Wolves
West Ham were awarded a corner in the build-up to the goal.
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Bowen and Joao Gomes battled for the ball in the Wolves box, before it trickled out of play.
Gomes appealed for a goal kick, while Bowen always looked confident of it being corner.
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A corner was in fact given and while that was cleared, the ball came back out to the skipper for him to cross in to Mavropanos.
Clearly, no one connected to West Ham will be complaining, but Bowen did admit that his team got lucky with that call, which suggests he knew it had come off him last.
Asked about the incident on Sky Sports, Bowen said: “Let’s make the most of it while we can. Maybe got a bit lucky there.”
Konstantinos Mavropanos celebrates scoring West Ham's first goal with Jarrod Bowen.
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
There was an element of luck in almost all of the goals. The brace that Taty Castellanos scored could easily have been missed.
Still, this was a night in which West Ham made their own luck. Nuno was rewarded for an aggressive approach, something that cannot always be said about him.
It was all about West Ham keeping their nerve and finishing the chances that present themselves. Though luck played a part, they still had to do exactly that.
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