West Ham 4-2 Wolves: Mukasa double delivers Hammers’ first Championship win

West Ham United claimed their first Championship victory of the season in emphatic fashion as Divine Mukasa scored twice in a 4-2 win over previously unbeaten Wolverhampton Wanderers at the London Stadium.

Jarrod Bowen converted from the penalty spot and Konstantinos Mavropanos added the fourth as Nuno Espírito Santo’s side finally turned their encouraging attacking moments into a league result.

Wolves twice threatened to keep the contest alive through Marshall Munetsi and a late Mavropanos own goal, but César Peixoto’s team could not recover from a night in which West Ham repeatedly punished them during the decisive middle period of the game.

The breakthrough arrived in the 33rd minute.

Mukasa, starting alongside Arne Engels in central midfield, produced the first major moment of his evening by giving West Ham the lead.

It was a significant reward for Nuno’s selection.

The West Ham manager had made four changes from Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Watford, recalling Mavropanos, Ollie Scarles, Joël Piroe and Pablo while leaving Valentín Castellanos on the bench. Mukasa retained his place despite West Ham entering the night without a league win.

By half-time, that decision had become central to the match.

Bowen doubled the advantage from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute, giving West Ham the separation they had lacked during their opening three Championship fixtures.

Wolves responded almost immediately.

Munetsi found the net two minutes later to reduce the deficit to 2-1 and change the atmosphere before the interval.

That goal ensured West Ham could not simply protect what they had built.

The next goal would determine whether the match became another anxious evening for Nuno’s side or the breakthrough result they had been waiting for.

Mukasa supplied it.

Eight minutes after the restart, he scored his second of the night to restore West Ham’s two-goal advantage and deliver the most important response of the contest.

Wolves had finished the first half with momentum.

West Ham took it away almost immediately.

The fourth arrived in the 64th minute through Mavropanos.

Back in the starting XI after missing the Watford draw, the Greece international gave the Hammers a 4-1 lead and appeared to have removed any remaining uncertainty.

Five minutes later, he was involved at the opposite end.

Mavropanos turned the ball into his own net to give Wolves a second goal and reduce the margin to two.

The unusual sequence left the defender with a goal at both ends, but Wolves could not build another recovery from it.

West Ham managed the remaining stages and protected the result that their attacking performance had earned.

The victory carries more significance than three points alone.

West Ham entered the game with only two points from their opening three Championship matches after draws with Burnley and Watford and defeat to Charlton Athletic.

They were facing a Wolves side that had collected seven points from nine and arrived at the London Stadium unbeaten.

On paper, it was arguably West Ham’s most difficult league assignment of the opening weeks.

Instead, it produced their first win and comfortably their most productive Championship attacking performance of the season.

Mukasa was the central figure.

His selection in midfield had attracted attention before kick-off, particularly with Nuno choosing an aggressive starting XI containing Bowen, Manor Solomon, Piroe and Pablo ahead of him.

The reward was a West Ham side capable of turning possession into goals with a frequency that had been missing from their first three league matches.

Bowen’s penalty continued his importance as captain and attacking reference.

Mavropanos’ return strengthened the side at set pieces and brought another goal.

But the night belonged to Mukasa.

Two goals from midfield gave West Ham the separation required every time Wolves threatened to change the direction of the contest.

For Wolves, the result represents their first league defeat under Peixoto after an encouraging opening sequence.

They had arrived as one of the Championship’s early pace-setters and had scored four against Stoke only three days earlier.

Munetsi’s goal demonstrated the attacking threat that had carried them through August, and the second-half own goal briefly offered another route back.

Defensively, however, they could not contain West Ham when the hosts accelerated around the penalty area.

Four goals conceded provides Peixoto with the first substantial setback of his Championship campaign.

West Ham leave the evening in a very different position.

Nuno had spent the opening weeks waiting for performances to become points.

Against Wolves, the conversion was emphatic.

The Hammers did not merely edge their first league victory.

They scored four against one of the division’s strongest early performers, responded immediately when Wolves threatened a comeback and found an unexpected match-winner in the centre of midfield.

Three matches without victory had created the pressure.

Divine Mukasa’s double ensured West Ham finally released it.