Ham in the 2012 Championship play-off Final against Blackpool. West Ham won the match 2–1 with goals from Carlton Cole and Ricardo Vaz Tê sending them back to the Premier League after a one-season absence. Nolan continued his good form into the 2012–13 season and scored his first goal of the season on the opening day, scoring the only goal of the game in a 1–0 win against Aston Villa. On 1 September, he scored inside one minute during a 3–0 win at home to Fulham. He scored his third goal of the season on 22 September, rescuing a point for West Ham by scoring in added time in a 1–1 draw at home to Sunderland. On 20 April 2013 Nolan scored his 100th career goal, netting the second goal in a 2–0 home victory against Wigan Athletic. Nolan wrapped up the 2012–13 season by scoring his second Premier League hat-trick in a 4–2 win against Reading on 19 May 2013. This hat-trick meant that Nolan had scored 10 league goals in a season for the fourth season in succession. Nolan started the 2013–14 campaign by scoring in the first game of the season again, in a 2–0 home win against Cardiff City. West Ham struggled in the first half of the season and Nolan's influence on games was described as "low key". In December 2013 he was sent-off at Anfield in a defeat by Liverpool for a foul on Jordan Henderson. After serving a three match ban he was dismissed again, in only his second match back, for a foul on Fulham's Fernando Amorebieta in a 2–1 defeat at Craven Cottage. He was fined two weeks wages, £100,000, by West Ham with manager Sam Allardyce considering removing the captaincy of the club from Nolan. Nolan finished as top scorer for West Ham in the 2013–14 season. At the start of the 2014–15 season he played in the first game, a 1–0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur but before their second game he fractured his shoulder in training, an injury which was expected to keep him out of football for at least six weeks. Nolan played 29 games for West Ham in the 2014–15 season, 10 after coming on as a substitute. Having been top scorer in the previous two seasons, he scored a single goal, in a 2–1 away win against West Bromwich Albion in December 2014. Nolan received