West Ham v Wolves: Bowen to star in 11/5 Hammers win | OneFootball

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West Ham have clear focus

"Would you accept relegation if you won the FA Cup?" That pub question is now moribund after West Ham crashed out in the quarter-finals against Leeds. It was a rollercoaster ride after the Hammers fought back from 2-0 down with 90 minutes on the clock before losing a shootout.

Now the focus is on completing a climb out of the relegation zone, something which looked a bit of a longshot a while ago when West Ham traded as low as 1.2 for the drop on the Betfair Exchange.

They're now 2.16 to go down and those odds will drift further if they can bank three precious points on Friday night. Victory will lift West Ham two points out of the relegation zone and drop Spurs into it. Tottenham would stay there if they failed to beat Sunderland on Sunday.

Wolves rallying despite looking doomed

It's great credit to Rob Edwards that he's managed to get a tune out of his team despite them being completely tailed off at the bottom of the Premier League.

Wolves are still 13 points from safety and 1.02 to go down but their recent form is the envy of teams battling for Champions League spots. In their last three matches, the Old Gold have beaten Aston Villa and Liverpool at home and fought back from 2-0 down to draw at Brentford. All those rivals are in the top seven.

In addition, Wolves have already beaten West Ham twice this season. The first was a 3-2 success in the Carabao Cup back in August while they thumped the Hammers 3-0 in January. That was actually their first league win of the campaign. Both the victories were at Molineux.

Break could hurt Wolves' momentum

In the match market, West Ham are 17/20 to bank all three points. Wolves are 11/4 and The Draw 9/4.

Backing West Ham at odds-on at home would have seemed a fool's errand for most of this season. But ignore what happened after extra-time in Cup games and West Ham haven't been beaten at the London Stadium in 90 minutes for six matches.

Five of those have been draws and the initial temptation is to think Wolves are playing well enough to grab a point.

But I have a feeling that the international break won't have done Wolves any favours. They had nice momentum after a run of promising results but now they haven't played since March 16.

During that gap, the reality of being doomed would have had chance to kick in. Some players may be thinking about the World Cup, others could be wondering where their futures lie.

West Ham, despite losing against Leeds, at least got a game under their belts and should be in more of a flow. Their incentive is now very clear: group together and escape the drop.

It always makes more appeal to back a team with one collective vision. Staying up is a more powerful incentive than trying to just put together a few good results before relegation is confirmed.

In addition, let's not forget that Wolves haven't managed a single away win this season.

Bowen can star in Hammers win

Jarrod Bowen kept hitting the post against Leeds. He's due a bit of luck and Wolves are usually accommodating opponents.

West Ham have won this home fixture for each of the last five seasons and Bowen has scored five times in that run.

Bowen is desperate to make England's World Cup plane and will be itching to right the wrong of that Cup defeat to Leeds after he had his penalty saved in the shootout.

Back Bowen to score in a West Ham win at 11/5.