The Hammers finally stop the bleeding
West Ham fans have been living in a state of purgatory for months, watching their team play like they were running through quicksand. Then, they put four goals past Wolves without even breaking a sweat. It was the kind of clinical performance that makes you wonder why they waited until April to wake up.
Nuno Espirito Santo looked like a man who just survived a shipwreck. The 4-0 drubbing of Wolves has finally dragged them out of the relegation zone, and the timing could not be better. Any later and they would have been booking tickets to the Championship.
Mavropanos is the defensive anchor they lacked
Let's talk about Konstantinos Mavropanos for a second. The guy was a physical force, effectively silencing any hope Wolves had of sneaking back into the match.
Nuno was visibly relieved, noting how delighted he was with the defender's contribution. When your manager is gushing about a clean sheet after conceding for sport all winter, you know the defense was the main culprit for the slide.
The road ahead is still a minefield
Moving out of the drop zone is a start, but let’s not throw a parade yet. They put up a 4-0 scoreline against a Wolves side that looked like they were already on summer vacation. It is easy to look like an elite team when your opponent decides not to defend.
The real test is whether this is a structural fix or just a purple patch against a dying team. West Ham has a mountain to climb if they want to avoid a total collapse before the World Cup break. Surviving is not the same as thriving, and Nuno needs to prove this wasn't an outlier.
If they continue to play with this intensity, they might stay up. If they go back to the defensive lapses that defined their January, then they deserve everything coming to them on the final table.
