'I see a team' - Pereira toasts Wolves' togetherness and spirit after 'important' West Ham win
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira saluted "a very important moment for the club", after easing their relegation fears with a narrow 1-0 win over West Ham.
Jorgen Strand Larsen scored the only goal of the game after 21 minutes at Molineux via a slight Maximilian Kilman deflection - taking his Premier League tally for the season to 10 - as Pereira's side moved 12 points clear of the bottom three.
Wolves survived a couple of scares later on. Niclas Fullkrug's looping header clipped the crossbar, while Tomas Soucek shot wide from close range with only Jose Sa to beat.
Nevertheless, the hosts held out, and Pereira punched the air in delight as the final whistle blew.
The head coach underlined the significance of the victory, while he also lauded the togetherness demonstrated by his players.
"What I can say is that when I'm watching the game, I see a team," he told the club's official website. "When we play with this spirit, with this commitment, it's not easy [to play against].
"I believe, I really believe, that we'll achieve our target. I believe in my work; I believe in the players. We have this quality, we have team spirit, and I think we have quality in our work.
"This is a moment, a very important moment, for the club. We need to get points; we need to send energy to the supporters, and they must send energy to us. This is very important and was a very important win.
"I think the first half was fantastic. The second half was about the spirit of the team – suffering together and celebrating together."
Another three points on the board
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 1, 2025
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Strand Larsen became only the third Wolves player to score 10 or more goals in his debut season for the club in the Premier League, after Steven Fletcher in 2010-11 (10) and Raul Jimenez in 2018-19 (13).
And the Norwegian, who has stepped up in the absence of the suspended Matheus Cunha, feels like he has proved a lot of doubters wrong along the way.
"I don't care [if the goal took a deflection], the ball went in. It doesn't matter how. I'm happy anyway," he told Sky Sports.
"Ten is always the goal for a striker, and we have eight games to go. People have been doubting me a bit, so I think it's nice to show them. Today, I was a bit lucky, but that's how it is."
Meanwhile, Graham Potter acknowledged West Ham "need to be better" after suffering a fourth defeat in seven away games in all competitions.
Although, the Hammers boss was pleased to see Fullkrug return to action after three months out with a hamstring injury.
"We wanted to be more compact and, as a result, the first half wasn't a good one for us," he told Sky Sports.
"We had to adjust things at half-time, and we did. We were better in the second half, some other chances as well, but in the end, not enough to win the game. We need to be better if we are to do better."
On Fullkrug's performance, he added: "Really good. [You] can see what he brings to the team. We can go long into him, he picks up second balls, [he is] a threat in the box. For the first time [in a long time], he has played 45 minutes for us, so that's pleasing."