MY ACCOUNT
Tomas Soucek scored the winner on his birthday as West Ham beat Wolves 1-0 to move up to fifth in the Premier League.
Declan Rice came closest in a cagey first half, thundering a 25-yard effort off the far post.
It was his midfield partner Soucek however eho eventually made the breakthrough, prodding home from close range after being found by Michail Antonio.
The victory sees the Hammers go above Arsenal, although the Gunners have three games in hand, while Wolves miss the chance to rise to sixth.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Rice praised Soucek for his reliability and quality while reflecting on his own development as a midfielder.
He said: “I am delighted for [Soucek], he has played so many games and minutes, he has been outstanding for us, his goals and defensive ability, he is great to play alongside. Today was him back to his best, working for the team and scoring a great goal.”
“I have been trying in training to shoot more often and their midfielders kept dropping into their box, I tried to use [Ruben] Neves’ body to set [my shot that hit the post] outside him, hopefully, one of those goes in soon.
“I feel much more comfortable, I have grown into the midfield role, adding goals is a nice feeling but my job is also to defend, I don’t mind sitting back and three or four for the season, I don’t mind it.”
Wolves boss Bruno Lage expressed his disappointment at the defeat to the BBC and explained what his side need to do between now and the end of the season if they are to be successful in their unlikely bid for a top-four finish.
He said: “When you look at the game, both teams played well, that is the thing we need to say. We started better in the first 20 minutes and after that West Ham [were better].
“We continued to play our way, the way we conceded the goal is disappointing, but in the end of February, we have 12 or 13 games and our goal is to continue in the same way that we played here against this tough team.
“When you look at the game, the way we played against a strong team and a manager with experience away from home – in the middle of February, we have 40 points, we put our fans [in a position] to dream about the Champions League.
“The next three months we need to continue to play the same way, grow up and fight for every point until the end of the season.”
Did you know?
West Ham have scored in each of their last 15 Premier League home games, their joint-longest such run in the competition’s history (also 15 between September and April last season).
Wolves have lost three of their last five Premier League games (W2), as many as they had in their previous 16 combined (W9 D4 L3).
Wolves failed to score for the 12th time in the Premier League this season, with only the bottom two sides Norwich (16) and Watford (13) doing so more often.
Soucek became just the second West Ham player to score a Premier League goal on his birthday, after Ricardo Vaz Te against Queens Park Rangers in October 2012.
Only Mohamed Salah (10) has provided more assists from open play in the Premier League this season than Antonio (7). The West Ham striker has been directly involved in 15 Premier League goals this season (eight goals, seven assists), his joint-best return in a single campaign in the competition (10 goals, five assists in 2020-21).
