West Ham United take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at the London Stadium in desperate need of a win to kickstart their 2022/23 campaign.
The Hammers produced two outstanding seasons in both 2020/21 and 2021/22, but the momentum they have built over that time has not been capitalised at the start of this term.
Process-wise it has not been too concerning, and it does feel like they will come good at some point, but with a fairly thin squad in certain areas at David Moyes’ disposal it is easy to see how and why they may underwhelm.
Wolves have also been a little slow out of the blocks and it is going to be fascinating to monitor Diego Costa’s impact back in the Premier League, the Hammers are very short and big favourites for this one despite flattering to deceive so far.
Process
West Ham rank eighth on expected points even though they are eighth in the table, and Moyes will be hoping that some much-needed time on the training ground will be enough to see them click into gear.
Both sides have scored just three goals in seven league outings so far, the Hammers from 8.4 expected goals (xG) for and Wolves from 7.5 xGF, some positive variance will likely see a goal-laden game crop up at some point soon.
West Ham are very happy to sit in a low block and aim to hurt teams on the counter-attack, pressing is a much smaller part of their game than the majority of the division.
Defensive process-wise, it is hard to split the two teams, but Wolves are overperforming, as they did alarmingly last term, with Jose Sa beginning the season in fine form.
The visitors probably have more international players returning at varying levels of fitness ahead of this fixture, and in terms of preparation that could give Moyes’ men some kind of edge.
They tend to show up on big occasions.
Goals?
An unders play does excite me, with the knowledge that the Hammers will not throw everything at Wolves and defensive solidity may be prioritised by both managers.
West Ham have scored in seven of ten.
West Ham have conceded in eight of ten.
West Ham have seen both teams score in five of ten.
West Ham have seen over 2.5 goals in five of ten.
Wolves have scored in four of eight.
Wolves have conceded in five of eight.
Wolves have seen both teams score in three of eight.
Wolves have seen over 2.5 goals in three of eight.
