In a beautiful display of football, Wolves managed to keep their first clean sheet in eight games, by beating West Ham 3-0. The last time they kept a clean sheet was against Bournemouth in December when they won 2-0. West Ham gave Rui Patrício virtually nothing to do as they had zero shots on target and never really threatened Wolves. After Wolves had a disallowed goal and some dismissed penalty shouts, they came out on top getting three deserved goals. Beating West Ham on Tuesday marked a special moment in the clubs history, as they completed the double over the Hammers for the first time ever!
Total domination
Wolves had 54% of the possession and a whopping 20 shots over the course of the 90 minutes. Of those 20, nine were on target which marks the highest number of shots on target that Wolves have had in any single Premier League game this season. When you compare this to West Ham who only had four shots and none on target, you can see how well Wolves performed on the night.
Despite letting in three goals Łukasz Fabiański was actually one of West Ham’s best players and without him, Wolves’ goal tally could have been much higher.
Defensively, Wolves didn’t have too much to do and they only committed eight fouls. The main issue is that they still managed to pick up four yellow cards, which shouldn’t really be happening when you’re playing so well and there’s no real threat from the opposition. They won 68 duels, 24 aerials and 15 out of 24 tackles, which is all more than West Ham. They played them off the park and some of the football Wolves were playing was so easy on the eye. A real treat for the fans.
Radiant Raúl
Raul Jimenéz had an incredible game and after his second goal, all around the Molineux stadium chants of “sign him up” could be heard. He has been proving himself week after week and has become such a key player for Wolves, that really Nuno should be looking to bag him permanently as soon as possible!
He had a total of six shots, two on target (which he scored), two blocked and two off target. He also made one key pass and created another big chance. He was such a major force in attack on Tuesday (as he has started to become in most games) and he never seemed to stop working. He could have easily had a hat-trick in the dying minutes of the match but his header just grazed over the bar.
He received a SofaScore rating of 9.2 which was the highest of anyone on the pitch, and it was truly deserved. The only slightly worrying thing is that with the transfer window now closed and Bonatini out on loan to Nottingham Forest, we don’t have a back up out-and-out striker if Jiménez gets injured. Touch wood that doesn’t happen but it is a concern. All I can say is in Nuno we trust.
Conclusion
It feels amazing to see Wolves dominating a match so well, never letting the opposition settle or really get into the game. Even at 0-0, it felt like Wolves were the only team who were going to win. This performance and most importantly the clean sheet should have given them the confidence they need to go out and continue to win matches. Saturday saw impressive performances from all of the Wolves players but the stand-outs for me had to be Saiss, Moutinho, Jiménez and Doherty; absolutely superb.
Next up Wolves face Everton away in the Premier League, and after Neves’ worldie of a freekick against them on the opening day of the season, everyone will be expecting some more magic.
