The statistics point to West Ham United's Emirates FA Cup third-round success as being fully deserved
West Ham United may have had to be patient, but the statistics suggest their 1-0 Emirates FA Cup third-round win over Wolverhampton Wanderers was fully deserved.
The Hammers dominated large parts of Saturday’s victory over their Championship opponents, controlling possession in Wolves’ half of the pitch for long periods.
Overall, West Ham enjoyed 62 per cent of the ball, making 499 passes to Wolves’ 302. Slaven Bilic’s side were also much better at keeping the ball when they had it, completing 81 per cent of their passes to Wolves’ 64 per cent.
The midfield of Mark Noble, Alex Song and Pedro Obiang were the main players in this domination of the game, while full-backs Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Cresswell both played the majority of the game in Wolves territory.
Song made a match-high 79 passes and enjoyed a pass-completion percentage of 85 per cent, while Winston Reid completed an impressive 43 of the 44 passes he attempted.
Much of that possession was in territory opposition as the heat map on this page shows, with West Ham’s passing accuracy in the West Ham half of 74 per cent dwarfing their opponents’ 56 per cent.
West Ham also had a big advantage when it came to creating chances to score, unleashing 18 shots on Carl Ikeme’s goal. Six of those efforts were on target, including Nikica Jelavic’s 84th-minute winner.
West Ham’s goal came indirectly from one of 66 long passes played by the men in Claret and Blue – Pedro Obiang’s ball into the Wolves box being headed out by Matt Doherty as far as Andy Carroll, who fed Jelavic to fire an accurate angled shot past Ikeme.
At the other end, Wolves had just five shots in total and just Michael Zyro’s late drive straight at Adrian to show for their efforts.
All in all, the statistics available to view in our Live Match Centre show that while it was a narrow victory, West Ham’s Emirates FA Cup third round success was fully warranted.
The Hammers dominated large parts of Saturday’s victory over their Championship opponents, controlling possession in Wolves’ half of the pitch for long periods.
Overall, West Ham enjoyed 62 per cent of the ball, making 499 passes to Wolves’ 302. Slaven Bilic’s side were also much better at keeping the ball when they had it, completing 81 per cent of their passes to Wolves’ 64 per cent.
The midfield of Mark Noble, Alex Song and Pedro Obiang were the main players in this domination of the game, while full-backs Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Cresswell both played the majority of the game in Wolves territory.
Song made a match-high 79 passes and enjoyed a pass-completion percentage of 85 per cent, while Winston Reid completed an impressive 43 of the 44 passes he attempted.
Much of that possession was in territory opposition as the heat map on this page shows, with West Ham’s passing accuracy in the West Ham half of 74 per cent dwarfing their opponents’ 56 per cent.
West Ham also had a big advantage when it came to creating chances to score, unleashing 18 shots on Carl Ikeme’s goal. Six of those efforts were on target, including Nikica Jelavic’s 84th-minute winner.
West Ham’s goal came indirectly from one of 66 long passes played by the men in Claret and Blue – Pedro Obiang’s ball into the Wolves box being headed out by Matt Doherty as far as Andy Carroll, who fed Jelavic to fire an accurate angled shot past Ikeme.
At the other end, Wolves had just five shots in total and just Michael Zyro’s late drive straight at Adrian to show for their efforts.
All in all, the statistics available to view in our Live Match Centre show that while it was a narrow victory, West Ham’s Emirates FA Cup third round success was fully warranted.