Wolves win was springboard for West Ham success – David Moyes

West Ham manager David Moyes has fond memories of their last meeting with Wolves and believes that first Premier League victory of the season was crucial to their fine campaign so far.

The Hammers travel to Molineux on Monday hopeful of staying in contention for European qualification, which at the start of the term would have been a pipe dream.

A 4-0 win over Nuno Espirito Santo’s men on September 27 helped West Ham bounce back from losing their opening two league fixtures to Newcastle and Arsenal.

Since then it has virtually been an upward trajectory for Moyes’ side who are fifth in the table with nine fixtures left to play.

He said: “It was a tough game and we had actually played Wolves in one of the remaining lockdown games when we came back and we lost 2-0.

“We did OK but we weren’t quite good enough so to get such a positive result at the start of the season was really important, especially after we lost the first two games.

“We played really well at Arsenal but didn’t take anything from the game, so for the team to get a strong performance and the goals, it gave us a lot of confidence and it was something for us to build on.

“The signs had been there and it didn’t come out from the first two games, but behind the scenes we felt we were in pretty good shape and just needed things to turn and thankfully the Wolves game it happened then.”

Moyes was not able to witness the crushing victory at the London Stadium after he was in self-isolation having contracted coronavirus.

The three points and the emphatic fashion in which they arrived aided his recovery, but he is well aware of what a tough contest Monday will prove for his players.

It has been a mixed campaign for 13th-placed Wolves, who have struggled after the sale of Diogo Jota to Liverpool in the summer was compounded by fellow forward Raul Jimenez suffering a fractured skull early in the season.

On their previous meeting, Moyes added: “The fondness I take is I had Covid-19 and I was sitting in my apartment watching the result come in.

“It was a great credit to my staff for how well they did the job and the players as well for their professionalism.

“I hope we can do the double but obviously it’s a tough game to play against Wolves. They showed really good signs in their last game against Liverpool, they played well I felt. I understand it will be another tough game.”

West Ham could welcome Arthur Masuaku (knee) back for the West Midlands trip, but Darren Randolph (hip), Angelo Ogbonna (ankle) and Andriy Yarmolenko (knee) remain absent.