James Ward-Prowse scored direct from a corner to give West Ham a precious Premier League win at Wolves – but the victory was marred by a major injury scare around Jarrod Bowen.
Ward-Prowse’s 84th-minute effort swerved over Wolves keeper Jose Sa and dipped in at the far post to complete a second-half comeback after Lucas Paqueta cancelled out Pabio Sarabia’s penalty with his own coolly-taken spot-kick.
The game ended in controversy though as Wolves were denied what they thought was an equaliser in the ninth minute of stoppage time for an offside against young substitute Tawanda Chirewa, who was deemed to have impeded goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, even though he was getting nowhere near Maximilian Kilman’s header.
However, David Moyes’ joy at victory will be tempered significantly by the loss of Bowen.
The England forward appeared to hurt his elbow as he fell awkwardly five minutes into the second period and although he tried to continue, it quickly became apparent he had to go off.
Bowen made his way straight to the dressing room but was moving very slowly as he went.
With 19 goals, Bowen is by far West Ham’s biggest attacking threat and would have been a key man in his club’s Europa League quarter-final first-leg tie in Germany on Thursday against a Bayer Leverkusen side yet to lose a game under Xabi Alonso this season.
Only their third Premier League triumph of 2024, the victory keeps alive West Ham’s hopes of securing European qualification for an unprecedented fourth consecutive season through their Premier League position.
For Wolves, a fourth game without a win in all competitions matches their longest run of the season as injuries continue to hamper Gary O’Neil’s hopes of a top-half finish.