Overview
Despite winning in the final round of the Premier League season 2025-2026, West Ham still could not avoid relegation. This is the first time since the 2010-2011 season that the East London team has had to play in the Championship.
West Ham continues to place their trust in Nuno Espirito Santo, who has experience working in the Championship. However, the start of this team's new season has not been as expected.
West Ham successively suffered defeats against Burnley and Charlton Athletic, in which the defeat to Charlton took place in front of 62,500 spectators at the London stadium. In the away match at Vicarage Road last weekend, they only got one point.
After the first 3 rounds, West Ham has not yet had any wins in the Championship. The separation of some important players such as Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes also makes Espirito Santo have to find a way to stabilize the squad.
Jarrod Bowen remains at London Stadium despite the interest from Premier League clubs. The presence of the English captain will be one of West Ham's mainstays in the race to return to the top league.
In the Carabao Cup, West Ham has a different face. They successively defeated Portsmouth and Southampton to qualify for the third round. Espirito Santo now needs to turn those results into motivation for their journey in the Championship.
Wolves are relegated earlier than West Ham after finishing last in the Premier League last season with only 20 points. After Rob Edwards left, the club appointed Peixoto and quickly received good signals from the team.
Wolves drew with Blackburn Rovers in the opening round of the Championship, but then won against Preston North End and Stoke City. After 3 matches, they have 7 points and are in the leading group.
Wolves' form was also strengthened by two wins at the Carabao Cup against Port Vale and Sheffield Wednesday. Thanks to that, the Midlands team has gone through 5 unbeaten matches in all competitions.
Goal scoring ability is Wolves' strongest point. They have scored 9 goals after 3 Championship rounds, averaging 3 goals per game and leading the league in terms of goals scored at the moment.
However, the defense still makes Peixoto worried. Wolves have not kept a clean sheet in any Championship matches. This was also once their problem in their last season in the Premier League.
Wolves' goal is quite clear: maintaining their current form to compete for a return to the Premier League after a season of absence. Meanwhile, West Ham needs to quickly regain stability if they do not want to continue to be left far behind in the promotion race.
Both teams have played in the Premier League and have had many encounters in recent years. In the most recent meeting, West Ham once won 4-0 against Wolves. But when they reunited in the Championship, the current balance has changed a lot.
Expected lineup:
West Ham: Hermansen, Veltman, Golambeckis, Kilman, Walker-Peters, Bowen, Engels, Kante, Solomon, Piroe, Castellanos.
J. Sa, Tchatchoua, Djiga, T. Gomes, Bueno, Andre, James, R. Gomes, Lopez, Mane, Jimenez.
The match between West Ham and Wolves takes place at 1:45 AM on September 2nd (Vietnam time).
