On an evening where West Ham were forced to respond to the embarrassment of their fourth-round FA Cup exit to League One strugglers AFC Wimbledon, Manuel Pellegrini's side slumped to fresh lows as they were taken apart by the outstanding Wolves.

The 65-year-old Premier League winning manager asked for a reaction from his players in his pre-match notes, but by the end of the night concluded it was "impossible to play worse" as the visitors failed to muster even one shot on target.

The Hammers buckled once again as a rampant Wolves unit strolled to an emphatic 3-0 victory - and on this occasion, the hosts were not reliant on a stoppage-time winner.

Wolverhampton had rained and poured all day with the weather forecast dominating headlines as opposed to another spectacle of midweek football.

In the face of adversity, Manuel Pelligrini's side froze as Wolves completed an impressive double over the Hammers for the first time in the clubs history.

West Ham have now fallen to three successive defeats in all competitions as second-half goals from Romain Saiss and a brace from Raul Jimenez completed the rout.

As omens go, Wolves were at the races from the off whilst the Hammers never recovered from their weekend hangover only three days ago.

Marko Arnautovic - who signed a long-term contract only half-an-hour after West Ham's dismal cup exit - was absent against Wimbledon and although the Austrian took to the field tonight, the lone forward certainly may as well have been absent here as well.

Credit must be given to Nuno Espirito Santo and his impressive hosts who nonchalantly took apart the dejected Londoners to move into seventh with one eye certainly looming towards a potential European finish.

The hosts alienated the visitors all game and also kept a rare clean sheet to put to bed recent defensive woes that saw the Midland's outfit concede 11 goals in their previous five outings.

Story of the game

The opening half was a bestriding exchange of events for the hosts who forced 11 shots at goal including three shots on target.

A game that lacked imagination from either side in the opening exchanges was ignited by the outstanding Ruben Neves who operated as the orchestrator in the middle of the field with a number of teasing diagonal balls.

The 21-year-old's spreaded pass to Matt Doherty got the home support on their feet for the first time on a bitter chilly evening in the Midlands as the ball found Diogo Jota but his shot was blocked.

Gareth Southgate was spotted in attendance enjoying Neves' slick array of passing ability as the former Porto captain continued to control the tempo of proceedings. Shame he's Portuguese.

Wolves' dominance continued and there was a penalty shout for the hosts when Doherty darted past Mark Noble before hitting the deck following a tangling with Arthur Masuaku but referee David Coote was having none of it and waved away.

The hosts grew in stature and their controlling of possession meant goalkeeper Rui Patricio could be forgiven for being caught napping as the Portugal No.1 was forced to clear unconvincingly for a throw-in with Robert Snodgrass lurking.

Doherty rescued a FA Cup replay with a stoppage-time equaliser on Saturday against Shrewsbury Town and the mobile wing-back almost picked out Leander Dendoncker with a teasing cross but the chance was squandered.

Jota and Jimenez were voracious in attack and were certainly enjoying each others company with the attacking duo utterly flamboyant with a number of tricks and flicks to set up a number of Wolves attacks.

Wolves' myria of opportunities continued and the hosts still couldn't break the deadlock when Jimenez' mouthwatering cross found Jonny who angled his shot just wide. Seconds later, Saiss became the first player to enter Coote's book following a cynical foul on Pablo Zabaleta.

Jonny later turned provider following his missed effort executing a delicious ball into the path of Jimenez - who was lurking in an offside position - that saw his shot ricochet off the bar before being headed home by Dendoncker who was also offside but this time to the officials were at hand to rule the goal out.

A breakthrough became more and more imminent and another chance arose when Snodgrass went into the book following a challenge on Jota on the edge of the West Ham box. The home fans were jeering for another famous Neves thunderbolt but his set-piece failed to beat the wall.

Jota later forced a smart save from Fabianski with the Polish shot-stopper at it again minutes later this time to thwart Doherty with another fine stop.

Neves continued to toy with the visitors pulling strings in midfield and another teasing cross just eluded Jota.

The Portuguese winger exuded confidence following his emphatic hat-trick against Leicester a week ago and the 22-year-old almost opened the scoring when another effort from the forward was denied by the magnificent Fabianski.

The Poland international took a bruising for his below-par teammates to deny both Jota and Saiss within seconds. The former Arsenal goalkeeper was the reason this scoreline didn't get ugly for Pellegrini and his side.

Wolves continued to knock on the door and their efforts were finally rewarded following a set-piece of the simplest order. Moutinho curled in a cross that never looked threatening, and yet Saiss was able to guide home without even leaving his feet.

The host's patience in possession were rewarded as the goal sent Molineux wild and left Pellegrini with his head in his hands as West Ham were trailing for the second time in three days.

The host's dominance seemed to petrify the visitors and the home fans erupted into waves of disbelief when referee Coote ruled away a penalty shout for the most blatant foul on Jota from a relieved Zabaleta.

Arnautovic's miserable evening was finally concluded with the Austrian replaced for Javier Hernandez. The returning striker was non-existent all evening and left the pitch to chants of "you should of f***** off to China" from the chuckling home supporters.

If the visitors failed to react to the opening goal then Pellegrini will have been livid for his team to concede the second from an almost identical position where Jimenez was lurking to stroke home and double the advantage.

The Mexico international was a class-act all match and deservedly bagged a brace after emphatically lobbing Fabianski to complete the rout and take the hosts to the Nirvana of seventh in the table.