West Ham revive top-four challenge as Tomas Soucek delivers win over Wolves

West Ham might appear outsiders in the top-four race but they are not going away. They needed to beat Wolves in order for that to hold true and did so deservedly, winning through Tomas Soucek’s first goal in two months and moving fifth.

The Czech midfielder’s close-range prod in the 59th minute came as a largely cautious Wolves appeared to have dulled the home side’s threat; the visitors were undone in London for the second time in under 72 hours and their hopes of gatecrashing the Champions League places now appear highly fanciful. For David Moyes it was a welcome response to a frustrating spell and, given sixth-placed Arsenal’s three games in hand come against fellow contenders at the top, he will feel their chances remain realistic.

Moyes made two changes to the starting XI that drew disappointingly with Newcastle eight days ago, although the absence of one of West Ham’s substitutes felt a more pressing matter. Andriy Yarmolenko was given compassionate leave on Friday in light of the war unfolding in his native Ukraine and his manager had said he was “not in a really good position at the moment”.

As the teams lined up side by side before kick-off, Declan Rice held a “Yarmolenko 7” shirt in front of him. A message on the scoreboard in Ukrainian yellow and blue read: “Sending love and prayers to Andriy Yarmolenko and the people of Ukraine.”

Football pales far into insignificance when set alongside the horror Yarmolenko and his compatriots are experiencing. In its specific and narrow context, this fixture felt particularly important to both teams. They have lost ground in the top-four battle in recent weeks and neither could really afford to lose. Wolves had been badly bruised by an added-time defeat against Arsenal