WHZ Stats & Tactics: West Ham v Wolves a clash in similar styles but differing fortunes
Wolves could prove to be a tough nut for West Ham to crack on Monday night when David Moyes and his men travel to Molineux for their next Premier League match.
The West Midlands club has underperformed this season as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are without a win in four matches, sitting 13th in the table and only nine points above the relegation zone with nine games to play.
Out of all that’s happened in the Premier League this season, their failure to build on their success of the last two campaigns is arguably one of the biggest shocks.
However, Wolves’ downfall has helped West Ham break into the Premier League’s usual top-six, with the East London club sitting in fifth place and just two points shy of fourth ahead of their showdown at Molineux on Monday night.
However, using stats by Wyscout, we’re able to show just how similar West Ham and Wolves are from a tactical and statistical standpoint despite their differing fortunes.
One of the most surprising things about West Ham has been their defensive style. They are the least intense team in the top-flight when it comes to trying to win possession back while they also rank high for PPDA, which is how many passes an opposition team makes before a defensive action is made.
Wolves are fairly similar to West Ham in that regard, with Nuno’s stand-offish side having by far the highest PPDA.
What does that say about the upcoming Wolves versus West Ham game?
We can expect each team to have long spells of possession but it could also benefit a team that has talented attacking players who thrive when there isn’t too much pressure placed on them.
West Ham have an abundance of those as Jesse Lingard, Pablo Fornals, Said Benrahma and even Manuel Lanzini come to mind.
However, stats by Wyscout would suggest that creativity from attacking midfielders hasn’t been West Ham’s strong suit this season.
Below is a graph that shows the build-up speed of Premier League clubs stacked up against their creativity. Passing speed is measured by passing rate (passes per minute of possession ) and deep completions measure creativity. According to Wyscout, deep completions are defined as a “non-cross pass that is targeted to the zone within 20 meters of the opponent’s goal”.
As you can see Liverpool and Manchester City are out there on their own in terms of chance creation while they also rank high for passing rate. Chelsea are by far the team with the highest passing rate, suggesting they are fast at moving the ball
West Ham, on the other hand, are down at the opposite end of the spectrum and not too far away from Monday’s opponents Wolves. The graph shows both West Ham and Wolves are slow to complete passes and, at the same time, play fewer non-cross passes into the box per 90 minutes of game-time.
Arthur Masuaku has completed more key passes per 90 minutes of Premier League game-time than any other Hammers player this season [0.71], which says a lot about Moyes’ creative players.
Will he need to try something different against Wolves?
Based on the figures, they’re just as passive on and off the ball as West Ham are with both teams preferring a slower tempo than most of their Premier League rivals.
Lingard’s arrival at West Ham in January has added an extra oomph to the side so in the last couple of months there has been an improvement to the creativity of Moyes’ midfield.
It remains to be seen how that will affect the outcome against Wolves though, but we’re praying it’s a positive impact.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie is adamant Declan Rice will stay at the club.