Wolves finally ended their wait for a first Premier League win this season as a 3-0 thrashing of West Ham placed pressure on former boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
2025/2026 Premier League
3-0
Match Report
West Ham had no answer to a first-half blitz at Molineux as Rob Edwards' side claimed three points for the first time this campaign, 20 games into the 2025-26 competition.
Hwang Hee-Chan drove down the line and teed up Jhon Arias' fourth-minute finish before doubling Wolves' lead with a 31st-minute penalty.
Matheus Mane won that spot-kick and added a third four minutes before half-time with a rasping drive past Alphonse Areola, who had expertly denied Tolu Arokodare's header from Joao Gomes' cross minutes earlier.
Wolves could have added further gloss after the interval, though substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen headed wide, while Areola repelled strikes from Bueno and Mane.
Jose Sa went untested as West Ham, without Lucas Paqueta, failed to register a shot on target, leaving them looking over their shoulders at Wolves and four points adrift of safety.
2 - In the last two seasons, the only two times that the team in 20th position have led by 3+ goals in a Premier League match have both been against Nuno Espírito Santo.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 3, 2026
Nott'm Forest 0-3 West Ham (Aug 2025)
Wolves 3-0 West Ham (Jan 2026)
Painful. pic.twitter.com/jYT7KYEhTk
Data Debrief: Wolves roar against former boss
Hwang set the tone as he both scored and assisted in a Premier League game for the first time, with his two goal involvements here more than he had managed in his previous 22 appearances.
Mane then became Wolves' youngest ever goalscorer in the competition, aged just 18 years and 109 days, after blitzing a delightful goal past Areola.
But there were no such positives to take for West Ham, who are now winless in their last nine matches (D4 L5), their longest run since their final nine games of the 2010-11 campaign when they were relegated.
Defence is clearly the problem for Nuno, with West Ham conceding 41 goals in the Premier League this season, their most after 20 games in a top-flight campaign since 1965-66 (44).
They accumulated just 0.25 expected goals (xG) down the other end in a deserved defeat that saw Wolves tally 1.52.
Match Events
4' GOAL! Wolves 1-0 West Ham (Jhon Arias)
31' Penalty Goal! Wolves 2-0 West Ham (Hee-chan Hwang)
41' GOAL! Wolves 3-0 West Ham (Mateus Mané)
Line-ups
Wolves XI: Jose Sa, Hwang Hee-Chan, Santiago Bueno, Jhon Arias, Ladislav Krejci, Tolu Arokodare, Hugo Bueno, Yerson Mosquera, João Gomes, Jackson Tchatchoua, Mateus Mané
Subs: Doherty, Sam Johnstone, Jørgen Strand Larsen, Hoever, David Møller Wolfe, Tawanda Chirewa, André, Enso González, Fer López
West Ham XI: Callum Wilson, Areola, Bowen, Walker-Peters, Mavropanos, Kilman, Crysencio Summerville, Freddie Potts, Soungoutou Magassa, Mateus Fernandes, Oliver Scarles
Subs: Soucek, G. Rodriguez, Igor, Mads Hermansen, Pablo, George Earthy, Mohamadou Kanté, Ezra Mayers, Airidas Golambeckis