Wolves came into this match-up having only defeated bottom-six sides at the start of each round of fixtures, a stat which offered some encouragement with struggling West Ham in town.
The hosts dominated the ball early on, but both sides were finding clear-cut scoring opportunities hard to come by.
The Hammers grew into the contest as the half progressed, and perhaps came closest to finding a first-half goal when Vladimír Coufal’s effort beat Jose Sa, but couldn’t make its way past the retreating Hugo Bueno.
Julen Lopetegui’s side were forced to come from behind in their last two matches, but a goal straight after break put an early end to that streak. Michail Antonio had done well to earn a corner for West Ham, but an incisive counterattack eventually broke to Daniel Podence, who struck low and hard to open the scoring.
With David Moyes’ job security becoming more precarious by the minute, West Ham were left indebted to the woodwork with 15 minutes to play when Rúben Neves rattled the crossbar before an offside Rayan Aït-Nouri struck the post on the rebound.
The visitors rallied in search of an equaliser, but captain Declan Rice was left disappointed, receiving little more than a yellow card on his birthday, as his side slumped to yet another PL defeat.
A late Wolves disallowed goal ultimately mattered little, with West Ham having now lost eight of their previous 11 PL away trips, allowing their opponents to leapfrog them in the table as they slip into the relegation zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nélson Semedo (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
