Wolverhampton beats West Ham 1-0 in relegation fight

WOLVERHAMPTON, England (AP) — Daniel Podence's goal secured a 1-0 win for Wolverhampton Wanderers against fellow relegation struggler West Ham on Saturday.

West Ham dropped into the bottom three of the English Premier League, while Wolves climbed out of the drop zone.

Both sides went into the match at Molineux out of form, but it was the host who sealed a vital win courtesy of Podence's strike.

West Ham had won just one of its last nine league games, and taken a single point from its previous six.

Wolves had just one victory in eight before this game, but sealed all three points with a goal three minutes into the second half.

West Ham was caught upfield as Wolves broke at pace. On the edge of the box, Podence fired a low drive home for his third goal in five games.

West Ham has scored only six goals away from home in the league. It never looked like adding to that total.

Ruben Neves was close to adding to Wolves' lead, but his long-range strike hit the crossbar.

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson