What the Premier League is all about: Cup contender, Moyes is saved by quality squad of West Ham

With the weekend’s 26th round of the Premier League in the past, it’s time for the traditional weekly feature on the action in the British Isles. This time we’ll focus on the middle of the table, specifically a peek at Wolverhampton and a brief look at West Ham.

Wolverhampton parted ways with coach Julen Lopetegui a few days before the start of the season. The Spanish manager complained about inactivity in the transfer market. He was replaced by Gary O’Neil and Wolves are eighth after two-thirds of the season.

Hopefully, thanks to a good coefficient

O’Neil went into the league with an unfamiliar squad, but he quickly adapted. He has turned Hwang Hee-chan into an elite striker and Matheus Cunha is no longer just a leader but a goal scorer. Pedro Neto has recovered, and Mario Lemina is on fire in the middle of the field.

O’Neil already proved himself last year when he rescued a written-off Bournemouth. What’s special about his Wolves is that he can adapt his style of play. Players always know whether to dominate or play on the break. The latter seems to suit them more against tough opponents.

Wolverhampton are currently eighth, and if England retain the top spot of the coefficient, this position means Conference League qualification. The competition has enough problems of its own – Newcastle injuries, Brighton Europa League and Chelsea is young and erratic.

West Ham cannot fail to improve

Lucas Paqueta has recovered and West Ham have gone back to being feared from the starting line-up. Although West Ham’s game and result performances have been at Championship level in recent weeks, Brentford left the London Stadium with a 2-4 defeat.

Coach David Moyes has made a lot of confident statements in recent weeks, but the quality of the starting line-up is at Top 6 level. The experienced manager was right to pull the Hammers up among the top English clubs. But now he has a strengthened squad and players like Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus and James Ward-Prowse don’t deserve to play in the defensive midfield.

A beautiful demonstration of Moyes’ destruction of players was the final ten minutes on Monday. West Ham crawled into their own whitewash and defended with a great deal of luck to make the score 4-2. Not rushing into attack is one thing, but the Hammers, by brutally retracting themselves, gave their opponents the opportunity to press and conquer. And if it wasn’t for Alphonse Areola, it could have been a drama.

Source: Premier League