West Ham United (A) 06/01/26

West Ham United 1-2 Nottingham Forest

Murillo OG 13'                           Dominguez 55'

                                                     Gibbs-White 89'

In January, a game was already labelled a six pointer. Eighteenth vs seventeenth. A relegation showdown. Forest with the opportunity to make the gap seven points. West Ham with the chance to make themselves only one point from safety. The only game of the night. Huge pressure. Which team would get the job done?

The Hammers needed to put an end to their nine game winless run if they wanted to climb out of the dreaded drop zone. Nuno Espirito Santo is under pressure from the hierarchy which was made worse as they gifted Wolves their first win of the season by a scoreline of 3-0. He made four changes from this game with the most notable being new signing Castellanos coming straight in up top. Sean Dyche has also started to come under heat on the touchline as his side have lost their last four. However, the Englishman has never lost five in a row. He made two changes from the loss at Villa Park as Sels replaced John Victor and Hudson-Odoi returned from injury, forcing Bakwa to the bench.

Since the reverse fixture, there has been lots of drama involving these two clubs. After Nuno lost 3-0 at home to the side he now manages, he was sacked by Forest for publicly discussing his change in relationship with Mr Marinakis due to a fall out with Global Head of football, Edu. West Ham sacked Graham Potter not long after and Nuno made the move down to west London. The Reds appointed Postecoglou but after he lost six out of the eight games in charge, he was replaced by Dyche. The Forest fans would want revenge, showing Nuno that he made the wrong decision. The Portuguese is aiming to avoid becoming the second coach to suffer two defeats when taking charge of both teams in meetings during a single Premier League campaign.

Forest had the brighter start following kick-off and they would’ve taken the lead if it wasn’t for a brilliant save from Areola. On the left, Hudson-Odoi was being doubled up on so he passed back to Williams on the edge of the box. Space opened up for the Welshman so took a few touches before looking to curl the ball into the top right corner from 25 yards. However, the West Ham goalkeeper was at full stretch to tip it behind for a corner. The visitors had looked defensively compact for the opening ten minutes but the Hammers managed to exploit their main weakness and go 1-0 up. Summerville whipped in a corner from the left which evaded everyone at the near post before being turned into his own net by Murillo. That is now the 8^th goal Forest have conceded from a corner in the league this season.

The rest of the half lacked any real quality or chances until just moments before half time. Hudson-Odoi cut inside from the left, looking to pull off his trademark finish. He created the angle for the shot but it could only crash off the crossbar.

Many signs were pointing to the hosts holding onto the three points; the last time West Ham started the year with a defeat at the London Stadium was in 2017 and since gaining promotion to the Premier League in 2022, Forest haven’t won a game when behind at the break. Both records looked to be on track as the Hammers thought they had doubled their lead on the 50 minute mark.  On the counterattack, Summerville managed to wriggle past Gibbs-White and Anderson before Milenkovic put a foot in. The ball landed to Castellanos on the left who crossed in the ball for Walker-Peters who had made a run into the box. He cut inside to get a shot off but it was blocked by Williams. Unfortunately for the Forest defender, it landed to Summerville around ten yards out who chested the ball down before hitting it on the volley and past Matz Sels. However, after a VAR check, Castellanos was in an offside position when he picked up the ball from Milenkovic’s tackle.

Forest had been given a lifeline and oh did they use it! Just minutes later, Anderson whipped in a corner from the left which was headed towards goal by Dominguez at the near post. The ball hung in the air before looping under the top right corner to give the Reds the equaliser. From this point, the game started to open up and grow end to end. The best chance in this period came for the hosts. New signing Pablo saw the run of Walker-Peters to the right of the box. The fullback took on the low effort from a tight angle which Sels got down well to keep out. Pablo got to the rebound first but once again, Sels was alert and he gathered the danger.

The Reds have conceded the most goals in the final fifteen minutes of games in the Premier League this season with twelve. However, it was them who took a late lead. Following a free-kick Anderson fired in, Areola came out to punch the ball but instead he collided with Gibbs-White and took him out. After an on field review for a penalty, referee Tony Harrington announced to the London Stadium that he was awarding Forest a spot-kick. Gibbs-White stepped up to take responsibility. The skipper went down the middle, sending the ‘keeper diving to his right. Forest have now scored their last eight penalties in the league but this one was huge as it had sealed three important points.

The performance was not one I want us to repeat but all that matters is we got the points we needed. That gives us a seven point gap and a marker to hopefully build on. On a night where there wasn’t much quality, my standout player was Dominguez. He got his goal but he also put in a real shift for the team. Gibbs-White also had a better game but he also had the confidence to step up as leader and take the penalty in a pressurised situation. Onto Wrexham in the FA Cup now!

West Ham United: Areola; Scarles (Mayers 63’), Todibo, Mavropanos, Walker-Peters; Fernandes (Potts 80’), Soucek; Summerville, Paqueta (Pablo 63’), Bowen; Castellanos

Forest: Sels; Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Aina; Dominguez, Anderson; Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Hutchinson (Bakwa 46’ (Morato 90’)); Igor Jesus