Mohammed Kudus magic silences Wolves as West Ham find home comfort | Premier League

The stadium announcer described him as a ‘wizard’ before kickoff and Mohammed Kudus certainly has magic in his boots at the moment. Two goals in the space of 10 first-half minutes from the Ghana forward inspired West Ham to a fourth successive home victory over Wolves that lifts David Moyes’s side above Manchester United and hanging onto the coat-tails of the Premier League’s top six.

Kudus, who joined from Ajax in the summer for £38m, now has nine goals for West Ham including four in his last three appearances here at a stadium that is quickly becoming his spiritual home. The only issue for Moyes will be how to replace him during next month’s African Cup of Nations.

Gary O’Neil’s battling Wolves side were denied a goal by the finest of margins courtesy of VAR but, in reality, they were no match for Kudus and his co-tormentor Lucas Paquetá, who provided assists for both opening goals before also setting up Jarrod Bowen’s clincher with 15 minutes to play.

While West Ham’s victory over Freiburg on Thursday was their 10th successive home win in European competition, things have not been so straightforward here in the Premier League this season. Before this victory, Moyes’s side had picked up more points on the road despite their 5-0 hammering at Fulham last weekend and started here like they intended to consign that performance to history. Dan Bentley – brought in to replace José Sá in the Wolves goal with the usual No 1 suffering from a shoulder injury – survived an aerial bombardment inside the first 10 minutes courtesy of some pinpoint deliveries from James Ward-Prowse and Bowen.

Wolves showed a glimpse of their threat on the break when Matheus Cunha forced Lukasz Fabianski into a simple save and almost took the lead 15 seconds before Kudus found the breakthrough at the other end. Craig Dawson’s header from a corner was going just wide but still needed Emerson to deal with the danger, with Edson Alvarez finding Paquetá in space before Kudus did the rest after cutting inside onto his favoured left foot. It was a stunning strike that left Bentley grasping at thin air.

Fabianksi was at full stretch to save another effort from Cunha as Wolves attempted to strike back but the visitors soon found themselves two goals down. Kurt Zouma intercepted a pass from Mario Lemina and once again it was Paquetá’s vision that opened the door to allow Kudus to finish with aplomb, this time with his right foot.

Many teams may have folded at that point but Wolves had found the net in every match this campaign since their controversial defeat to Manchester United on the opening weekend and refused to give in. Yet they could have easily been three down at the break had Bowen’s shot not smacked off the post moments after the West Ham forward felt he had been brought down in the area. Emotions momentarily got the better of O’Neil just before half-time when he was booked after protesting about a Zouma foul on Cunha that saw the West Ham captain shown a yellow card.

The Wolves manager was back prowling the touchline at the start of the second half in the hope of rousing a comeback from his team, with Tomas Soucek blocking a goalbound shot from Hwang Hee-Chan. The lifeline they craved seemed to arrive when Pablo Sarabia touched home a cross from Nelson Semedo but after a long delay, the VAR deemed the Spaniard to be marginally offside. O’Neil could barely believe his luck.

Another Cunha shot whistled over the crossbar from a tight angle but the game was up when Bowen picked up the ball in his own half and played a one-two with Paquetá. Suddenly the West Ham forward found himself in acres of space and there was only ever going to be one outcome as he slid the ball past Bentley to seal a comfortable win for the hosts before Kudus and Paquetá left the field to a richly deserved standing ovation.