Strand Larsen's 10th league goal of the season was enough for the hosts to seal back-to-back wins, having beaten Southampton before the international break.

The Norway forward, who was absent during that break with a hand injury, marked his return to action with the decisive strike in the 21st minute, his shot beating Alphonse Areola via a slight Maximilian Kilman deflection.

West Ham generally struggled to mount a sustained attacking threat in its search for an equaliser, but it twice went close later on.

Niclas Fullkrug's looping header hit the bar, while Tomas Soucek fired wide from close range with only Jose Sa to beat, as the Hammers suffered a fourth defeat in seven away matches in all competitions.

Vitor Pereira's Wolves remain 17th on the table, but pulled further clear of the bottom three and to within five points of the Hammers, who are one place above them.

Pereira 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 said.

"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."

Strand Larsen, 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 said.

"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 was pleased to see Fullkrug return to action after three months out with a hamstring injury, but conceded his side must do better.

"We wanted to be more compact and, as a result, the first half wasn't a good one for us," he said. 

"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."