This was the 99 seconds that gave Taty Castellanos his Carlos Tevez moment and lifted West Ham United out of the relegation zone for the first time in a month.
The 27-year-old forward, who joined from Lazio in January, scored twice in quick succession during Friday night’s 4-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers to drag West Ham out of the Premier League’s bottom three and dump their rivals Tottenham Hotspur in it.
Castellanos received a standing ovation from the London Stadium faithful when he was substituted for Callum Wilson in the 82nd minute. The two-time Argentina international has had a huge impact for West Ham, scoring five goals across 16 appearances for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
But it was an initial slow start for the striker, who did not score his first league goal until his fifth appearance, against Burnley in February. Castellanos has had a quicker settling in period than fellow compatriot Tevez, though. When the striker joined from Brazilian side Corinthians on deadline day in the summer of 2006, he went 16 league games without scoring.
But then in March 2007, when West Ham really needed him to start firing, Tevez scored in three consecutive matches against Tottenham Hotspur, Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough. Just like Castellanos, Tevez’s real impact came at the business end of the season. He scored twice in the second to last game of the 2006-07 season against Bolton Wanderers and his solitary goal against Manchester United on the final day sealed West Ham’s ‘Great Escape’.
Almost 20 years on and Castellanos is playing a similar role. He is two goals away from equalling Tevez’s tally and becoming the new hero in east London. Given the disappointment over last Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final exit against Leeds United, the morale-boosting victory has aided the club’s quest of retaining their Premier League status.
Castellanos converted his first goal after good link-up play with Pablo Felipe, a fellow January arrival from Portuguese side Gil Vicente. The second was a combination of great attacking play from Nuno’s side. Club captain Jarrod Bowen recovered the ball near the halfway line and surged forward unchallenged. Castellanos’ first touch set up his strike, and he dispatched his effort past Jose Sa (with the help of a deflection).
(Ben STANSALL / AFP via Getty Images)
“It’s an important double,” Castellanos told The Athletic after the win against Wolves. “Our aim is to win each time and we had no choice but to come away with the three points today. I am very happy but we need to keep going. There’s no easy games here in the Premier League and we have to knuckle down this upcoming week to be well prepared for the next game (against Crystal Palace).
“Yes (I spoke to Tevez before joining West Ham). He was a great player and I am very happy to be here. It’s difficult in this moment for the fans, for the group, but the most important thing is to keep going and working hard in training.”
The unity within the group was clear when Castellanos’ team-mates charged over to him to celebrates his second goal. The players climbed on top of him with defender El Hadji Malick Diouf not willing to let the forward get up from the turf in a hurry, while Crysencio Summerville, on his first appearance since sustaining a calf injury in the cup win against Brentford, performed Castellanos’ mask celebration. It was a longer embrace than usual but one which bodes well for the togetherness Nuno and his backroom staff have instilled in the squad.
Chants of “West Ham are massive” reverberated around the ground when the scoreline was 3-0. As those in the lower tier of the Bobby Moore Stand applauded Castellanos after his withdrawal, he had not passed the corner flag when in-form defender Konstantinos Mavropanos scored his second goal from a Bowen corner. The centre-back has three goals this season having failed to score in 2024-25 and his resurgence has been crucial in West Ham’s upturn in form.
(Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Since losing to fellow relegation contenders Nottingham Forest on January 6, Nuno’s side have played 13 league games, winning five, drawing three and losing three against Aston Villa, Liverpool and Chelsea. To highlight their turnaround, they were behind Tottenham by 13 points after 21 games. Now for the first time since 2015, Tottenham are in the bottom three.
This was West Ham’s biggest Premier League win since April 2023, when they beat Bournemouth 4-0 under ex-manager David Moyes. Over the last 11 matches, only Manchester United (23) and Arsenal (21) have sealed more points than West Ham (18).
“We needed this victory,” midfielder Mateus Fernandes told The Athletic after the match. “We scored four, we didn’t concede, so it was a good night for us. We work now, we have to rest our mind and go again next week because we know this can change very quickly. It hasn’t been easy for Taty and Pablo as well. To come to England to play in the Premier League would’ve been difficult for them.
“I felt the same when I came in, so our job is to try to do easy things for them. Taty deserved this because he’s worked very hard (since joining). The most important thing is to be happy and enjoy this moment. Forget about the last game and try to build something good. We will just focus on the things we can control. The pressure is normal in football, we play for a big club so we feel pressure every day. We need to enjoy the moment, we can’t go to the game afraid of the ball.”
Castellanos was named man of the match before the final whistle. West Ham and their fans will want more of the same against Crystal Palace on April 20.