‘Completely unnecessary’ – BBC pundit slams West Ham ace | OneFootball

BBC pundit Andy Hinchcliffe has slammed West Ham United centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos for a reckless challenge on Wolverhampton Wanderers star Jean-Ricner Bellegarde last night.

The Hammers claimed a crucial 2-1 win over Wolves at the London Stadium, with Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen scoring on either side of a Matt Doherty strike in the second half.

Manager Julen Lopetegui has come under intense scrutiny, and there was a general feeling that anything but maximum points against Wolves would spell trouble.

However, West Ham got over the line in front of their home fans, but a late tackle from Mavropanos could have turned the game.

The Greek defender made a lunging tackle trodding on the foot of Wolves forward Bellegarde before Tommy Doyle skied a decent chance from Matheus Cunha.

At first glance, it looked like a punishable offence. The incident was checked and cleared by the video assistant referee (VAR).

Former Manchester City and Everton defender Hinchcliffe believes the West Ham defender was fortunate.

“It was a completely unnecessary challenge from Konstantinos Mavropanos,” Hinchcliffe said (via BBC Sport). “He’s so lucky to get away with it.”

West Ham have now halted a run of consecutive defeats against Arsenal and Leicester City and will be hoping to build on the crucial win when they travel to Bournemouth next weekend.

Victory against Wolves has lifted some of the pressure off Lopetegui’s shoulders, but he is not out of the woods yet.

The Hammers are still languishing in the bottom half of the table, although they’ve extended the gap to the relegation zone to nine points.

There’s still work to be done to salvage an appalling campaign, but Lopetegui has bought himself valuable time to turn things around.