After days of speculation about the future of West Ham United manager Julen Lopetegui and his Wolverhampton Wanderers counterpart Gary O’Neil, this meeting between their teams was widely considered to be pivotal to both men’s respective job prospects.
Lopetegui has endured a difficult start to life at the London Stadium, so this victory — courtesy of goals from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen — will come as a huge relief.
Wolves had cancelled out Soucek’s header when Matt Doherty struck and twice thought they might have had a penalty in the second half, but both VAR reviews found in favour of the home team.
Defeat leaves Wolves in 19th place, four points adrift of safety and with O’Neil’s position increasingly insecure.
Tim Spiers, Roshane Thomas and Steve Madeley analyse the main talking points.
What does this result mean for the managers?
This was dubbed El Sackico before kick-off, with both managers likely to be one defeat away from the sack… and with Wolves on the losing end it is difficult to see how O’Neil keeps his job now.
The club have been putting feelers out for a new head coach for some time but wins over Southampton and Fulham bought O’Neil time. However, heavy defeats by Bournemouth (2-4), Everton (0-4) and now a loss to West Ham have surely made his position untenable.
It did not look like his players had downed tools — the effort was there, they rallied to score a superb equaliser through the recalled Doherty and there was a late surge for another leveller in the closing stages, as well as a very good appeal for a penalty turned down.
But Wolves’ biggest problem is their feeble, meek defence, highlighted again here by two soft goals for West Ham, especially the first, which saw Soucek’s tame header bounce apologetically in at the back post.
In a desperately quiet away end, there was not much audible anger, just resigned apathy and indifference.
Wolves were eighth at the start of March and dreaming of Europe last season, but since then have beaten only Southampton, Fulham, Luton Town and Burnley (in the Carabao Cup) and are now four points adrift of safety. O’Neil did a good job last season but under him they have conceded 103 goals in 53 league matches.
As for West Ham and Lopetegui, this narrow win moves the team nine points clear of the drop zone but the Spaniard remains unpopular and unconvincing and it remains to be seen if he lasts until next Monday’s trip to Bournemouth.
There were swathes of empty seats around the London Stadium by the final whistle in a desperately muted atmosphere, reflecting two teams, fanbases and managers who are waiting for the inevitable.
Tim Spiers
Bowen steps up when West Ham need him
This season West Ham’s defensive vulnerability has been their undoing. They have kept only three clean sheets in 15 league games and it seemed that might cost them once again when Doherty cancelled out Soucek’s header.
But, as has so often been the case in recent seasons, Bowed stepped up when his team needed him, lifting the mood to score his fourth goal of the campaign and earn a victory which might give his manager a stay of execution.
The result should not disguise what was an uninspiring first-half display from West Ham just when they really needed a performance, culminating in a smattering of boos from supporters at the break.
But after the interval they impressed offensively, with Bowen and Mohammed Kudus testing Wolves’ defence.
Kudus had an effort ruled out for offside but in the end they held on. The manner of their second-half display will provide some encouragement for Lopetegui but the question will now be whether that is enough to convince the club’s decision-makers that he deserves more time.
Roshane Thomas
How were West Ham affected by Antonio’s accident?
West Ham’s players warmed up in ‘Antonio 9’ shirts (Harry Murphy – Danehouse/Getty Images)
This was West Ham’s first match since striker Michail Antonio was involved in a car accident on Saturday in Coppice Row, Epping. The 34-year-old has had surgery on a lower limb fracture and is recovering at a central London hospital.
His team-mates wore ‘Antonio 9’ shirts during the warm-up and kept them on as they walked out onto the pitch at the start of the game. West Ham will auction the shirts, with each one signed by every member of the squad, including Antonio.
Antonio has long been a popular figure at the London Stadium and he received lots of messages of support from current and former team-mates following the crash.
Here, there was another show of support in the ninth minute, when fans stood to applaud him, with Lopetegui joining in from the touchline. Bowen held up a shirt with Antonio’s name on it after scoring the winner.
“It has been a tough few days for all of us,” Lopetegui told Sky Sports before the game. “Fortunately it was a miracle. There are more important things — the person, the father, the dad, the brother, the son he is. We are happy he has overcome the surgery he had yesterday and let’s see how many times (how long) he is going to stay. We spoke with him today so we are happy for him despite that he suffered a lot.”
Roshane Thomas
Wolves’ search for winning formula goes on
It was impossible to predict the team O’Neil would choose for what must have felt like a hail-Mary selection to save his job.
For much of last season Wolves fans knew what to expect from an O’Neil team. For the past month or so there has been a sense of names being drawn from a hat.
Clearly that is not the case. But O’Neil’s desperate attempts to find a winning formula have seen all thoughts of consistency of selection thrown out of the window.
In the end, his line-up at the London Stadium was close to replicating what worked for much of last season — a 3-4-3 system but with flexibility to move to a back four at moments in the game.
Even then, there were some square pegs in round holes — Nelson Semedo on the right of the back three with Craig Dawson benched following his horror night against Everton at Goodison Park and Joao Gomes again operating in a strange, inside-right role in the Wolves front three.
Throughout his reign, O’Neil has shied away from playing an orthodox midfield three despite always having an array of central midfield talent at his disposal.
Did the selection work? Well, it managed to keep West Ham at bay for 54 minutes with the help of some mediocre finishing but there was less threat in attack than in many recent games.
In the end, they conceded twice in typically soft fashion and posed only a sporadic threat in attack. It might have resembled last season in basic shape but that is where the comparison ended.
Steve Madeley
Wolves’ vulnerability after scoring strikes again
O’Neil has compared his side to an untamed horse for their inability to control their emotions and the final months of his reign (if that is what these end up proving to be) will be remembered, among other things, for their repeated failures to consolidate after scoring.
Against Liverpool in September, Mohamed Salah scored the winning goal in a 2-1 defeat just five minutes after Rayan Ait-Nouri had equalised.
In a crazy opening spell at Brentford in October, Wolves twice fell behind, equalised for a second time through Jorgen Strand Larsen on 26 minutes and conceded again to Christian Norgaard on 28 and never recovered, losing eventually 5-3.
Against Crystal Palace in November they fought back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 through Joao Gomes on 72 minutes, only to concede a Marc Guehi equaliser five minutes later and draw 2-2.
And at the London Stadium Doherty’s equaliser had them level for just three minutes before Kudus restored the West Ham lead, and there was still time in between for VAR to dismiss penalty appeals for a challenge by Emerson on Goncalo Guedes.
At the end of it all, Wolves’ frustration boiled over, with Mario Lemina fuming and eventually having to be dragged away down the tunnel.
Steve Madeley
What did Julen Lopetegui say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What did Gary O’Neil say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for West Ham?
Monday, December 16: Bournemouth (A), Premier League, 8pm GMT, 3pm ET
What next for Wolves?
Saturday, December 14: Ipswich (H), Premier League, 3pm GMT, 10am ET
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(Top photo: MB Media/Getty Images)
