Battle for Europa League football sees Wolves host West Ham tonight

West Ham are welcomed to the Molineux Stadium on Tuesday as they aim to leapfrog Wolves in their bid for finishing in the final Europa League spot. The sides are one point apart going into the midweek clash and with the business end of the season soon approaching this match could be one of the deciders come the end of the campaign.

The hosts enter the game unbeaten in the last two after drawing with League One side Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup and beating Leicester City, those results ended 2-2 and 4-3 respectively. The West Midlands based side have also won two others in their last six beating Liverpool 2-1 and Tottenham 3-1.

Inbetween those they lost 3-0 to Manchester City and 2-0 to Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace.

Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham have lost two on the bounce after crashing out of the FA Cup losing 4-2 to bottom-placed League One side AFC Wimbledon, before that they lost 2-0 away to Bournemouth. They had been on a three-game unbeaten run prior to this, beating Arsenal and Birmingham while also drawing with Brighton & Hove Albion.

When quizzed about their upcoming opponents Wolves manager Nuno Espírito Santo said:

“We always expect a very tough game against a very good team. They’ve had bad moments, but they’ve come out of them and now both teams are ready to compete,” said the Portuguese.

“Tomorrow we are going to face a team with a lot of talent, a very good squad, a very good manager, quality players – so we will really have to be switched on to compete.”

Pellegrini expressed this at his press conference:

“I expect a reaction following the Wimbledon game when we travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers in Tuesday night, of course,

“We need one because the motivation of the Premier League, against Wolves, will be different. That does not mean the FA Cup did not motivate us, but maybe less so, and that is what made the difference. When you play the Premier League it is different, as every game is a final.”

“Our consistency is one of the things we must improve.”

Wolves are the only side in the entire division not to have any injuries at the moment, though they will be without Willy Boly who is one his final game ban after getting a straight red card against Manchester City.

The home side will also be expected to name most of the key figures that were left out their FA Cup draw to Shrewsbury with the likes of Rui Patricio, Joao Moutinho, Raúl Jiménez and Diogo Jota all missing from the side that drew 2-2 with the League One side.

The Hammers have the second most players out with long term injuries Jack Wilshere, Manuel Lanzini and Andriy Yarmolenko all being out for the foreseeable future. Adding to that list with Lucas Perez who injured his ankle against AFC Wimbledon and will miss this one.

A big boost for the London side’s defence is that Ryan Fredericks is back to full fitness and is ready to feature in his first league game in well over two months.

Marko Arnautovic should also be expected to face the home side considering he announced he was signing a new deal, less than half-an-hour after his side crashed out the FA Cup. This put an end to the drama ending speculation that the forward would end up in China, as the striker’s agent had spoken so publically about the intrest.

Pellegrini is also expected to bring in a large number of players who missed their 4-2 loss to Wimbledon in the cup, that means Declan Rice, Felipe Anderson and even Aaron Cresswell could all return.

Top Scorers:

On-loan striker Jiménez leads the line in terms of scoring for the West Midlands based club scoring eight in 25, his last strike was against Shrewsbury Town his was the first of the away sides goals as they pulled level to force a replay. The Portuguese is also the sides most assists with six.