The players warmed up in special ‘Antonio 9’ shirts and walked out in tops that had the striker’s name, showing their support for Antonio, who was involved in a car accident over the weekend.

Two goals from Thomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen sealed the three points for West Ham. The game opened up in the 54th minute when West Ham took the lead through Bowen’s corner, which was headed in by Soucek. Soucek ran to the camera and held up nine fingers, dedicating the goal to Antonio.

Seven minutes later, Mohammed Kudus thought he had doubled West Ham’s advantage, but the goal was ruled out by VAR for offside. Wolves equalized in the 69th minute when Rayan Aït-Nouri crossed the ball to Matt Doherty, who placed it past Łukasz Fabianski.

However, Wolves were only level for three minutes. Bowen scored West Ham’s second goal of the night, giving the Hammers the three points. The goal made Bowen West Ham’s second-highest goal scorer in the Premier League. Bowen raised Antonio’s shirt, dedicating the goal to the player.

After the game, West Ham’s coach, Julen Lopetegui, spoke to Sky Sports about Antonio, who has been sidelined for a year due to the injury he sustained in the car crash, calling it a “miracle.”

“It has been very tough for all of us, but much more for him and his family. Fortunately, he was a miracle, looking at the pictures of the car. There are more important things: the dad, the brother, the son that he is.”

Soucek, Antonio’s close friend and West Ham teammate, said he wanted to score for Antonio before the game and described him as his favorite. “The goal was for him. I dedicated it to him,” Soucek said. “I said before the game I really wanted to score even more today. He’s been here since I came here. He is really my favorite. I said it would be tough for me to play without him. I am happy that he is doing fine, but this is for him. He is a massive player, and he is in my heart. It was really tough for us. I was with the kids, and I saw this information on the phone. I messaged everyone asking what happened and how he was. I was so scared of what was going to happen.”

West Ham climbed up to 14th place in the Premier League and are now nine points off the relegation places.