Wolves host West Ham United in Premier League return as both sides aiming to climb table

National World - LocalTV

Wolves and West Ham meet in a crucial Premier League clash as both teams aim to climb the table and secure a higher finish. To get a full preview, we spoke to two NationalWorld journalists—one offering insight from Wolves’ perspective and the other from West Ham’s. Together, they provide a balanced look at the key matchups and what’s at stake for both sides in this important encounter as the Premier League returns.

Transcript

00:00Now Wolves and West Ham meet in a crucial Premier League clash as both teams aim to

00:08climb the table to secure a higher finish. With Wolves showing flashes of form but struggling

00:13for consistency and West Ham looking to build on recent improvements under Graham Potter,

00:19this match could prove vital in their pursuit for a strong end to the season.

00:25To get a full preview, we spoke to two national world journalists, one offering insight from

00:30Wolves' perspective and the other from West Ham's. Together, they provide a balanced

00:35look at the key match-ups and what's at stake for both sides in this important encounter

00:41as the Premier League returns.

00:42Yeah, Wolves away, up next as the Premier League returns. Now, it's a fixture where

00:50West Ham have sort of had Wolves' number as of recent. In terms of the game, how do

00:56you look going into this? You know, you've mentioned there a bit of fresh confidence

00:59from a lot of the West Ham players and international duty. They'll be coming in wanting to make

01:04sure that their form continues to improve under Graham Potter and, you know, they want

01:10to make sure they are now turning these draws and tight games into wins and, you know, Wolves

01:15away is probably a fairly good place to go and start and try and do that for Graham Potter.

01:22Yeah, I don't want to call it a big game, but, you know, there's only one place that

01:27separates the two sides in the league. I think we've got a fair amount of points more than

01:32them, but we don't want to risk being sucked into that bottom five or whatever it is.

01:39So it's a relatively big game in that respect. But I think the key thing for West Ham between

01:45now and the end of the season is, like you said, just find a bit of form, turn some of

01:50those draws into wins, score more goals. We've stopped conceding as many as we were under

01:55Opotegui. So Potter's got that half of the job right. You know, he's made us a lot more

02:01solid at the back. We've got a lot of players that have had successful international breaks

02:06and we need to go there with the intention of getting all three points, trying to finish

02:11as high up the league as possible. I think, you know, realistically, the highest we're

02:14going to finish this season is 12th, maybe 11th at a push. A lot of those players will

02:19have their futures to play for at the club. They will know that Graham Potter isn't just

02:25coming in to put a new system in place. He's assessing every single one of those players

02:28and working out which ones can play his style, which ones he wants to keep and which ones

02:32he feels like he doesn't need. So there'll be a lot of players between now and the end

02:37of May or middle of May that will have that in the back of their minds. And yeah, so I'm

02:43hoping that that means that they're going to put in a run of good form and a run of

02:48good performances and end the season strongly.

02:50Wolves have the opportunity to move 12 points clear of the Premier League relegation zone

02:56as they take on West Ham United. Another win would really be a huge boost and they can

03:00take confidence from the game before the Internationals. They beat Southampton 2-1.

03:05Jürgen Strand-Larsen scoring both goals in that game from crosses from Jean-Rik de Bellegarde.

03:10Those two have formed quite a nice partnership. Hopefully they'll be able to continue this

03:13weekend. However, Strand-Larsen, he did withdraw from international duty with a broken hand.

03:18He was carrying that against Everton and against Southampton and he should be fine again to

03:22play this weekend. He just didn't want to aggravate the problem, but he's not 100% fitness

03:27and Wolves need to be wary of that. West Ham in terms of their form at the moment, well,

03:31they are building confidence under new manager Graeme Potter. They managed to beat Arsenal

03:361-0 away from home, effectively ending the Gunners' title hopes. They were pretty much

03:40over anyway, but that result really did seal their fate. After that, they were quite unfortunate

03:45to lose 1-0 to Newcastle United at home. They played pretty well in that game. They went

03:50toe-to-toe with the soon-to-be Carabao Cup winners, but they weren't able to win against

03:54Everton. They held a 1-0 lead for much of the game through Thomas Socek's goal, but

03:58then in the second half stoppage time, Everton able to equalise. And in that run as well,

04:03they beat Leicester City 2-0. You'd expect a win there, but Leicester, they can cause

04:08upsets every now and then in terrible form at the moment, but West Ham still have to

04:12get the job done. So Wolves, they've got to be careful against West Ham. They can definitely

04:16pose a threat. However, I think having beaten Southampton, you should be beating them, but

04:20you've still got to complete the job. As I say, they should have that confidence. Mateus

04:25Cunha is unavailable to play. Once again, he's carrying his suspension. It's actually

04:29been extended by a third of the game. He won't be able to play against Ipswich after his

04:33headbutt on Miloš Čerkež, but Wolves, they proved against Southampton, they do have the

04:37players to be able to succeed without Cunha, and they'll be hoping to do that again this

04:41weekend to move 12 points clear of that relegation zone.

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