Scamacca scores his first Premier League goal as Hammers comfortably beat fellow strugglers Wolves
I hope everyone is safe and well.
We are at that stage of unpacking in our new place where I’ve now found my tools and started some DIY. Just making our place a home with those little touches that make a huge difference – picture frames up, walls painted and furniture unpacked and put together. We are beginning to feel like we can now relax and a good result at the weekend certainly added to the overwhelming good mood in the Marsh family.
It was difficult to predict this one, both teams struggling for form but we have done very well in Europe and with the international break, a chance for players to get back from injury so the stage was set for a good performance, and we we not disappointed.
It seems that Bruno Lage’s future as Wolves manager is in doubt, especially given his sides disappointing display at the London Stadium that leaves them in the bottom three. With only 3 goals from 8 games you can see where their problems lay with Hwang Hee-chan, Raul Jimenez and long-term absentee Sasa Kalajdzic missing Wolves had very little bite in attack.
Even the introduction of Diego Costa, playing his first competitive match since December 2021, on the hour for the ineffective Gonçalo Guedes, could not lift his team to mount anything meaningful and leaving the stage clear for Scamacca and Bowen to score a goal each and secure a well needed home win for the Hammers. Scamacca, our £30.5m arrival from Sassuolo scored a screamer of a half volley to take us above Wolves in the lowest goals tally of the season so far. The crowd and the team quite rightly celebrated and it looked as if our Premier League season was finally getting under way.
The question was, could we keep a clean sheet, our first since February when we beat Wolves 1-0, and secure 3 vital points to lift us out of the relegation zone? The answer was yes, thanks to a returning Craig Dawson alongside Kurt Zouma and Thilo Kehrer, adding some impressive steel and composure in defence. But then Wolves didn’t have much to offer and once Bowen had scored just before the hour mark, it was pretty much game over.
The introduction of Antonio, replacing the inspirational Scamacca on 66mins, provided more pressure on the Wolves defence in the closing stages to see out a deserved home win that hopefully sets us up for Thursdays match against Anderlecht in the Europa Conference League. Can we keep up our good form in the competition as well as manage to negotiate a kick start to our premier League Campaign? This is where Moyes will earn his pay and justify money spent in the summer to give us greater depth, especially when everyone is fit.
Enjoy the photos from the match
Take care
Dawud
From the Stands 