For a while it seemed the only thing that Nottingham Forest were going to get right was show safe hands when West Ham passed them the Premier League’s crisis baton. Sean Dyche’s side were jeered off after an awful first half but an unlikely turnaround earned them their first win since 14 December thanks to an equaliser from Nicolás Domínguez and a controversial late penalty from Morgan Gibbs-White.
It was a goal that stopped the mood of the relegation fight shifting away from Forest. This was the night when it had to change for West Ham. A first win in 10 games would have had them closing in on 17th-placed Forest, who were looking at a fifth consecutive defeat after conceding a poor early goal, but there is no respite for Nuno Espírito Santo at the moment. His side simply cannot defend – West Ham are yet to keep a clean sheet since hiring the Portuguese manager in September – and slipped seven points below Forest after a VAR review led to Alphonse Areola being penalised for catching Gibbs-White when he tried to punch a cross away.
The vast number of empty seats in the home sections at kick-off summed up West Ham’s darkening mood. Apathy has grown and the worry for Nuno was surely that the tepid atmosphere would make it harder for his side to lift themselves after a nadir was reached during last weekend’s defeat by Wolves.
