Premier League 2019/20: West Ham vs Wolves – tactical analysis

West Ham United hosted Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Round 30 of the English Premier League after the lockdown period with both teams previously having played a game of football in March. West Ham, battling with Bournemouth in the lower half of the league table to avoid relegation, were desperately looking for points while Wolves were fighting for a spot in the top five behind Manchester United.

Wolves managed to win the game 2-0 with both goals scored in the second half. What were their tactics that managed to unlock the hosts after half-time? How big was the impact of Adama Traoré in this game? I take a look at the tactical set up of both teams and an analysis of the statistics during the game to examine Wolves’ win in this tactical analysis.

Lineups

West Ham: Fabianski, Ngakia (Fredericks 81), Rice, Diop, Cresswell, Noble, Soucek, Antonio, Fornals (Yarmolenko 81), Anderson (Lanzini 67), Bowen.

Unused subs: Randolph, Balbuena, Johnson, Silva, Wilshere, Ajeti.

Manager: David Moyes

Wolves: Patricio, Doherty, Boly, Coady, Saïss, Jonny (Vinagre 89), Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker (Neto 64), Jota (Traore 64), Jimenez (Gibbs-White 90).

Unused subs: Ruddy, Kilman, Buur, Jordao, Podence.

Manager: Nuno Esprito Santo

The hosts lined up in a 4-4-2 with wide player Michail Antonio alongside the creative Brazilian Felipe Anderson as the front two. Jared Bowen and Pablo Fornals had the license to drift into central areas from wide during the attacking phase. Mark Noble played as the deep solo pivot to build out from the back and the fullbacks, Jeremy Ngakia and Aaron Cresswell pushed up along the wide flanks. We also saw Declan Rice, who usually plays as the pivot for West Ham line up as a central defender alongside Diop.

The visitors deployed their regular 3-5-2 formation with Raúl Jiménez and Diogo Jota as the front two for Wolves. Rúben Neves sat in the playmaking role from deep while João Moutinho and Leander Dendoncker operated in more advanced positions along the left and right half-spaces respectively. The wing-backs were Jonny Castro and Matt Doherty who could fall back alongside the back three to make it a back five in the defensive phase.