West Ham United beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 on Friday to move out of the Premier League drop zone for the first time since December and leave Tottenham Hotspur in the bottom three for the first time this season. Konstantinos Mavropanos headed the hosts in front just before halftime, Valentín Castellanos struck twice in three minutes midway through the second half and Mavropanos finished the scoring seven minutes from time with an acrobatic volley from a corner kick.
Nuno Espirito Santo said his side were extremely happy and that all of them deserved an evening like this, especially the fans after the London Stadium was bouncing with energy even in the hard parts when the game was tough. He said he realised there was still a lot of work to be done, but added that the win was a big step and that they had changed the dynamic.
The result mattered because West Ham had spent months staring at the wrong end of the table. They were winless in 10 matches before their recent run of five victories in 11 games and had looked set for the Championship after losing at home to Nottingham Forest in January, when they were seven points adrift of safety. This time, they turned the mood with a result that also kept Wolves at the bottom of the league and pushed Tottenham into fresh trouble, even if Spurs still have a game in hand over West Ham in the battle to beat the drop.
There was no disguising the contrast with January, when West Ham lost 3-0 at Molineux to Wolves in the reverse fixture and, in Nuno's words, that afternoon was tough at Wolves for everybody at the club. He said he hoped their best result was still in front of them, but Friday was the kind of night that can reshape a relegation fight in one match rather than one month.
For Tottenham, the danger now sits alongside a changing dugout, with new Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi due to begin his tenure away to Sunderland on Sunday. For West Ham, the job is simpler and harder at the same time: they have bought themselves breathing room, but the table remains tight and the margin for error is still thin.
