West Ham enjoy their view from the summit as routed Wrexham become latest victims of Hammers' revival
Championship
West Ham United (2) 6 Bowen 28, Piroe 37, Mavropanos 48, Castellanos 63, Kante 76 Solomon 62
Wrexham (0) 0
It had been nearly three years since West Ham last won four games in a row - but they have reached that marker to once again signal their intention not to hang around too long in the Championship.
They are back on top of the league - at least until tomorrow - and look more than capable of staying in and around the top slots in the months ahead.
After that underwhelming start against Charlton in their opening home fixture, they have hit their straps, beating Wolves and Derby in successive London Stadium matches before the midweek win at Bolton. Skipper Jarrod Bowen is leading the way - scoring goals and setting the tone.
Nuno Espirito Santo is grateful for the more than steady start. It would not have taken much for the pressure on him to quickly mount in the face of adverse results.
A Friday night under the lights at the London Stadium offered them another opportunity to go back to the top before rivals take to the field tomorrow. The visitors, Wrexham, arrived with just one win to their name from the first six games - albeit an impressive one at Millwall, where the Hammers play next Saturday.
Bowen came very close to an opener on 12 minutes and darting in from the right to unleash a shot that keeper Anthony Patterson did brilliantly well to stop - his arm deflecting the ball onto the crossbar. Dinos Mavropanos was then inches away with a downward header from the resulting corner.
Joel Piroe should have scored after nicely side-stepping defender Zak Vyner before blasting waywardly. But moments later, a sweet pass from Morata overlapping on the left was deftly touched home by Bowen for 1-0.
Mavropanos gave the ball away to offer up a good chance for Wrexham - who broke sharply at times - but the defender made amends by clearing the final shot from George Dobson off the line.
It was to be the last real moment of doubt as Piroe doubled the lead before half-time after being teed up unselfishly by Taty Castellanos in a sweeping move that had the stamp of Premier League class in its execution - even if it owed something to defensive sloppiness on the part of the Welsh side.
And it did not take long after the restart for the Hammers to further underline their superiority with a third goal as Mavropanos headed in a Bowen corner - the set piece having been won after Manor Solomon ghosted in behind the Wrexham defence to latch onto a beautifully judged Bowen pass from deep. Patterson's save only delayed that third goal by 30 seconds.
Castellanos was next to get on the scoresheet, finishing with a well-placed shot that Kyle Walker-Peters made possible with a dazzling run from deep inside his own half in a counter-attack, followed by a calm lay-off to the Italian.
Combinations between Castellanos, Piroe and Bowen carved the Wrexham defence open time and time again - the Hammers skipper almost finishing off one such dazzling link-up with an angled low drive which missed the far post by a fraction.
But a fifth goal arrived which had nothing to do with the trio, as sub Mohamadou Kante finished superbly after striding onto a lovely pass from Solomon down the left channel - lifting a shot high into the net past an exposed Patterson.
Solomon wanted to get in on the act and fired in a shot from just outside the area which found the net via a post - another incredibly long charge from Walker-Peters from distance causing more mayhem in the visitors' defence.
The Red Dragons can be relied upon to bring some nationalist fervour to the occasion and their fans enjoyed taunting their hosts about the World Cup defeat to Argentina and offering rousing versions of Men of Harlech.
But their bullish pronouncements began to ring hollow after the Hammers started to exert their authority and the noise levels from the away end inevitably faded just as rapidly as their team's hopes.
Two thirds of their end was deserted for the final 10 minutes as the jibes of "Six-nil on your big day out!' rang out.
Hammers: (4-4-2) Hermansen - Veltman (Walker-Peters 30), Mavropanos, Morato (Scarles 67), Kilman - Bowen (Ajala 21), Mukasa, Engels (Orford 81), Solomon - Piroe (Kante 68), Castellanos
Red Dragons: (3-4-2-1) Patterson - Vyner, Worrall (Hyam 67), Doyle - Imray (Kabore 67), Whiteman, Dobson (Matty James 67), Ekomie - O'Hare, O'Brien - Smith (Moore 67)
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