West Ham United manager David Moyes has heaped praise on Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O'Neil ahead of Sunday's Premier League meeting at the London Stadium.
O'Neil was appointed Wolves head coach a day before the season started in August following the departure of Julen Lopetegui, with the West Midlands club making around £80m in profit from the sale of a number of first-team players in the summer amid financial concerns.
Many regarded Wolves as a potential candidate to be embroiled in a relegation scrap this season, but O'Neil's side currently sit 13th in the table and are closer to the top six than the bottom three.
Wolves, who have been thwarted by a number of controversial VAR decisions this term, have accumulated 19 points from their first 16 top-flight games and sit 10 points clear of the relegation zone, while a win over ninth-placed West Ham could see them climb into the top 10 if other results go their way.
O'Neil, who spent two years at West Ham as a player between 2011 and 2013, previously managed Bournemouth before surprisingly losing his job in June, but Moyes has since been impressed with the 40-year-old's start to life at Wolves and is expecting a "very tough" game on Sunday.
"I think Gary O'Neil has done a great job at Wolves so far," Moyes said at a press conference on Friday.
"He did a great job at Bournemouth too and, when you're a young coach, you need to be given an opportunity and you need to be given time. I think he's doing a really good job at Wolves at the moment."
"Wolves have always been a good side," Moyes added. "They've had good teams and good managers. They had two very good, very experienced managers last season too.
"I think Gary has steadied them and got them playing well. There are differences, of course, but they look in good shape and it will be another very tough Premier League game.
"We've got to go and do our business, try to keep our good home form going and try to win again."
Another familiar face who will be returning to West Ham this weekend is Wolves defender Craig Dawson, who spent two-and-a-half years as a Hammers player before moving to Molineux in January after expressing his desire to live closer to his family in the North West.
"We're looking forward to seeing Craig Dawson again," said Moyes. "He played a huge part getting us from where we started to where we are now. He was a big part of it.
"We were disappointed when he left but we knew there were other reasons behind it. He's a good lad and I'm sure he's being a big help for Wolves at the moment."
Meanwhile, Moyes has revealed that Edson Alvarez will be assessed ahead of kickoff after sustaining a knock in the 2-0 Europa League win over Freiburg on Thursday, while goalkeeper Alphonse Areola (wrist) returned to training in midweek and could feature against Wolves. body check tags ::
