On the back of respective 1-1 draws in their midweek Premier League contests, Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United endeavour to reignite their respective European charges in Saturday's Molineux encounter.
Gary O'Neil's men settled for a point against Burnley on Tuesday, while the Irons also came from behind to shake hands on a share of the spoils with Tottenham Hotspur.
Match preview
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The Manchester United links refuse to go away for Wolves coach O'Neil, who has remained incredibly level-headed amid supposed interest from the 20-time English champions, but his Wolves troops are currently doing him few favours in his bid to move up the managerial ladder.
Indeed, festive cheer has been in limited supply for Wolves during the Easter period, as only one of their last five matches in all tournaments has ended in victory, and their winless run stretched to three games during Tuesday's trip to Turf Moor to square off with Burnley.
On the back of successive losses to Coventry City and West Midlands rivals Aston Villa, the Old Gold fell behind to a crisp Jacob Bruun Larsen strike, but a deft header from Rayan Ait-Nouri - his second goal in three Premier League games - levelled the tie on the stroke of half time.
Continental sojourns are still a realistic aim for the 11th-placed hosts, who are only three points below their seventh-placed opponents with a game in hand, although Bournemouth and Fulham are all within touching distance of Wolves in the bottom half of the standings too; Chelsea leapfrogged them on Thursday with their astounding win over Manchester United.
O'Neil's men can at least take solace from their last two results in front of the Molineux faithful - successive triumphs over Sheffield United and Fulham - but the hosts are yet to string together a three-match winning sequence at home this season.
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As was the case at Turf Moor, two first-half goals were shared between West Ham and capital rivals Tottenham at the London Stadium, where Spurs' streak of scoreless first halves came to an end with just five minutes on the clock by virtue of Brennan Johnson's close-range finish.
While Tottenham have proven adept at coming from behind in 2024, the Lilywhites were handed a dose of their own medicine by the Europa Conference League winners, as Kurt Zouma rose highest to meet a corner and snatched a point for the hosts courtesy of an unorthodox effort off of his back.
A point against Ange Postecoglou's troops is nothing to scoff at, but failure to put away a couple of golden chances to take all three means that David Moyes's men are now winless in four Premier League matches, a worrying trend before the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final with Bundesliga champions-elect Bayer Leverkusen next week.
The visitors are still clinging on to seventh spot in the table, but European qualification is officially out of their own hands, as Wolves, Brighton & Hove Albion and Newcastle United - all of whom are just three points behind or fewer - have games in hand, as well as a superior goal difference to Moyes's troops.
A penchant for shipping goals on the road is harming West Ham's continental aspirations too - the Hammers have let in 12 in five Premier League away games in 2024 so far - and Wolves have run out 1-0 winners in their last two meetings at Molineux, but December's London Stadium battle saw Moyes's men hit O'Neil's charges for three without reply.
Team News
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While two integral Wolves attackers in Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee-chan missed the midweek round of fixtures, Matheus Cunha is back at O'Neil's disposal and earned 14 minutes off the bench against Burnley, where 18-year-old Leon Chiwome made his second successive Premier League start.
The 2006-born protege will likely make way for the returning Cunha this time around, though, while Jean-Ricner Bellegarde (knee) and Craig Dawson (groin) failed to make the cut on Tuesday too, but the latter has trained alongside hamstring victim Hwang.
Dawson is believed to have a better chance of making his comeback on Saturday and could therefore return to a familiar backline with Toti Gomes and Max Kilman, now rumoured to be on the radar of Manchester United.
In terms of West Ham's availability, Edson Alvarez has now served his two-game ban for picking up 10 yellow cards and should slot straight back into Moyes's midfield, which could end up having a knock-on effect on Michail Antonio.
The 34-year-old was particularly wasteful in midweek and could be the one sacrificed for Alvarez - Jarrod Bowen would therefore revert to a central position - while Lukasz Fabianski deputises in goal once again for groin victim Alphonse Areola.
Nayef Aguerd is in with a good chance of making the squad, but the Moroccan should not force his way back into the rearguard over Dinos Mavropanos or Zouma, who is second only to Gabriel Magalhaes for Premier League goals by defenders since the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Kilman, Dawson, Toti; Semedo, Lemina, Doyle, Gomes, Ait-Nouri; Sarabia, Cunha
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma, Emerson; Soucek, Alvarez; Kudus, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta; Bowen
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 West Ham United
Not since the 2010-11 season have Wolves and West Ham taken home a point apiece from this encounter - there has been a victor in each of the last 13 meetings - but we can only picture Saturday's game heading in that direction.
Cunha's anticipated return to the first XI ought to give the hosts a major lift against a West Ham side without any sense of defensive discipline on the road, but O'Neil's under-performing men should not do enough to take all three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
