LONDON: West Ham United's Konstantinos Mavropanos and Valentin Castellanos each scored twice in a 4-0 Premier League home win over fellow strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday that moved them above Tottenham Hotspur and out of the bottom three.
The victory, which featured a fifth clean sheet of the season in the league for the Hammers, moved them up to 17th on 32 points, two ahead of Spurs who visit Sunderland on Sunday. Wolves remain bottom of the standings with 17 points.
The visitors started well, but went in behind at the break after West Ham centre-back Mavropanos scored with a superb header from Jarrod Bowen's inswinging cross in the 42nd minute.
Both sides had chances early in the second half, with Wolves forward Angel Gomes hitting the post from a free kick. West Ham instantly counter-attacked and Crysencio Summerville came close to catching Jose Sa off his line with a lob which flew wide.
A minute later Bowen struck the woodwork for West Ham before they got a second goal in the 66th as Wolves gave the ball away and Argentine Castellanos punished them with a lunging finish in a central position before adding a third after 68 minutes.
With Wolves doing little to suggest a comeback was on the cards, Mavropanos struck again with a deft volley in the 83rd minute, leaving the visitors at risk of having relegation all but confirmed when they visit Leeds United on April 18.
"It's a great result," Mavropanos told the BBC. "We've been working so hard. This kind of game with this atmosphere, exactly what we need for the rest of he season," he added before giving a bullish assessment of his side's chances of staying up.
"When we scored the first goal we felt more comfortable with the ball and (we) showed that in the second half. In the last couple of months, we've been working hard - we have to give our all, we will make it," said the Greek international.
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