Key events
HT: West Ham 0-1 Nottingham Forest
A half that begin brightly and openly ended in rather dour and dismal fashion, especially for West Ham, who found themselves a goal down after 11 minutes via a horrible Alphonse Areola error. Morgan Gibbs-White, who has comfortably been the best player on the pitch, made no mistake in capitalising and Forest have the exact situation they’d have craved before kick-off.
They lead 1-0 at the break and their Champions League qualification hopes are still very much alive. West Ham simply must do better.
The only negative for the visitors could be an injury that Murillo sustained right at the end of the half, challenging for a ball in the West Ham box. It looks like an ankle injury and Nuno’s brow was furrowed as the defender got treatment deep into first half added time. We’ll hear more about that during half-time, for sure.
45 mins +3: Coufal goes into the referee’s book for a show of dissent after a 50-50 corner/goal-kick decision is given Forest’s way. That sums up the Hammers’ half.
45 mins + 1: “They’re not angry, they’re just bored,” says Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher of the West Ham fans, who haven’t had much to cheer so far today.
This half is fizzling out somewhat. We’ll have four added minutes, though,
42 mins: It’s been a frustrating watch, so far, for those of us with Elanga and Wood in our fantasy football teams.
41 mins: Two big opportunities go begging for Chris Wood … or do they? The flag belatedly goes up and it looks very close on replay. Wood couldn’t find Elanga in the first instance and then took too much time and only found Areola with the second.
39 mins: Slide tackle after slide block… the Forest commitment is there for all to see. But there’s no great urgency from them to commit players forward at this stage. They’re in control, without controlling possession or territory.
37 mins: A near mixup in the Forest defence almost brings about a goal for Cresswell, who aims a cheeky backheel goalwards and gets a corner for his troubles.
Soucek is then penalised for a push going up for a header.
36 mins: The home fans have found their voices and are urging their team forward at every opportunity. Almost every backwards pass prompts a London Stadium groan. Their team are still bossing the ball.
34 mins: Milenkovic slides in effectively to stop Kudus racing through the centre of Forest’s defence. Good defending, as usual, from the Serbian international.
32 mins: Kudus arrives late in the box for a header but mis-times his jump and it’s over the bar.
31 mins: Anderson, who looks to have shaken off that knock by the way, is doing a decent job of recycling the ball for Forest in the middle. It’s so congested in there that West Ham cannot navigate a route through.
30 mins: Magnificent feet from Gibbs-White, deep in his own territory, to dance away from trouble and get Forest moving forward with a good pass. He’s a fine player.
28 mins: West Ham are drifting a bit here. They’re largely dominating possession and their wing-backs are both decent outlets, but you just can’t see them penetrating the Forest defence.
Bowen has at least won a corner.
A very predictable email from Nick Mullen re the Forest goal:
That boob from Areola will live long in the mammary.
25 mins: Not sure Anderson will be able to continue here. He’s stayed down for some time and requires a bit of treatment. He’s a key man in this Forest lineup.
24 mins: And there’s a proper melee in the box following the corner. Did it hit the crossbar at some stage? Wood was in the mix, but it’s ended with Elliot Anderson down injured.
23 mins: Gibbs-White picks out Wood at the back-post, with the New Zealander winning a corner. There’s so much space for Forest when they transition forward.
20 mins: Kudus played a lovely one-two with Wan-Bissaka and looked to square for Bowen, who ended up careering into the woodwork as the cross evaded him. Ouch – that made a horrible noise. Let’s hope he’s OK.
18 mins: Coufal has looked pretty dangerous down the right so far for the hosts. Forest have struggled to pick him up.
A mad stat: From their first 30 Premier League games this season, Forest scored first in 23 of them. Protecting leads and all that, eh?
15 mins: Forest have a spring in their step now and actually, far from sitting back to protect their lead, look eager to double it as soon as possible. Todibo crashes into Elanga and somehow doesn’t concede a free-kick.
13 mins: West Ham, with that error, completely undermined the fairly positive start they’d made to the game. Graham Potter must be tearing his hair out. Forest have the kind of early lead they can protect.
Oh Areola, it’s a terrible pass that goes straight to Gibbs-White, who is never going to pass up that opportunity! A simple finish.
Gibbs-White celebrates with another tribute to the stricken Taiwo Awoniyi.
GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Nottingham Forest (Gibbs-White, 11)
Wood and Elanga are starting to combine effectively for the visitors, with the former Manchester United man appealing for a penalty after being crowded out in the box.
Seconds later, a West Ham error gifts an easy goal for Gibbs-White!
10 mins: Another attack, another shot and another save! This time it’s Chris Wood stinging the palms of Areola with a piledriver from 25 yards. A more open opening 10 minutes you could not wish to see.
8 mins: I’d love to see the xG of that Gibbs-White opportunity. Suspect it would be quite high given its close range nature.
It’s real end-to-end stuff here as Bowen draws defenders and it falls for Coufal to force another save from Sels from the right. West Ham looking fairly fluent in attacking areas so far.
6 mins: A big save from Alphonse Areola this time, as a long throw falls kindly for Gibbs-White to volley goalwards from six yards. Should he find the corner there? It’s way too close to the goalkeeper.
5 mins: There’s a problem with the officials’ microphones, which brings a small delay.
Forest’s first attack then yields very little, with Elanga’s cross snuffed out.
3 mins: It’s a barrage of early crosses from West Ham that Forest are having to deal with. The home team have begun freely.
2 mins: Wow, Sels is sprung into an early save from Soucek’s header. Coufal has loads of time from the right to deliver a cross and his finds the head of his fellow countryman. Tipped over for a corner.
1 min: It’s a fairly muted atmosphere around the London Stadium, with a few seats yet to be filled. Aaron Cresswell, playing in his final home game as a Hammer, has at least received a good ovation from the supporters.
KICK OFF
LET’S GO!
The players are out and we’re almost ready …
One win in their past six Premier League games amounts to a run of form that Nottingham Forest may rue if Champions League qualification eludes them. They really cannot afford another slip-up now, given other teams have surged beyond them. The silver lining today is how good Forest have been on the road this season, with only Liverpool winning more away games.
Less than 10 minutes until kick-off.
Nuno Espirito Santo said yesterday that Nottingham Forest were “concerned but positive” about Taiwo Awoniyi after the striker was put in an induced coma when he suffered a serious abdominal injury against Leicester.
Awoniyi remains very much in the club’s thoughts today as they warm up in tops bearing his name. He remains under observation and in recovery.
An email from Jeremy Boyce:
It’s very good of you (Daniel now, Emillia now, you later…) all to provide us with your MBMs on these end of season Super Sunday matches with some potentially important points and a cup at stake. But surely all your work will be overshadowed by the action later on where REALLY big things could happen. Of course I’m talking about the Vardy-o-clock (15.00 BST on what is very much Super Vardyday) fixture where the big fella just needs 1 goal for the perfect send-off in his final appearance at Filb … the King Power. He couldn’t ask for kinder opposition today than the free-conceding Tractors, so kind in fact that you could imagine them, if it gets to 89 minutes and he hasn’t found the net yet, giving him possession then forming a guard of honour as he walks the ball in. Would he accept the offer ?
Surely Vards will have to go out in a blaze of glory, Jeremy, Skittles-vodka an’ all.
Lucas Paquetá is among the West Ham substitutes this afternoon and his manager Graham Potter has revealed the ongoing investigation into whether the Brazilian breached betting rules is taking a toll on the player.
There’s plenty else going on around the footballing world this fine Sunday. Catch the final moments of the last ever Everton men’s fixture at Goodison Park, or the early knockings of the Women’s FA Cup final. Or stick with me here, if you wish.
Some stats: West Ham have won five of their six Premier League home games against Nottingham Forest, while Forest are seeking to complete their first league double over the Hammers since 1983/84.
In fairness, they haven’t been in the same division all that much in this century.
It’s crazy to think that 20 points separated these two teams at the end of last season, with West Ham finishing in ninth on 52 points and Forest way down in 17th on just 32 points.
This season has seen a near-perfect reversal of those positions, with Forest currently on 62 points and West Ham on 40.
Just shows what can be achieved if you do/don’t have a plan.
Team news
West Ham (3-5-2): Areola; Todibo, Kilman, Cresswell; Coufal, Ward-Prowse, Rodríguez, Soucek, Wan-Bissaka; Bowen, Kudus.
Subs: Fabianski, Soler, Paquetá, Füllkrug, Mavropanos, Guilherme, Álvarez, Emerson, Ferguson.
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Sangaré, Anderson; Gibbs-White, Domínguez, Elanga; Wood.
Subs: Miguel, Morato, Hudson-Odoi, Toffolo, J. Silva, Yates, R. Sosa, Oliveira, Abbott.
Preamble
Now then, Nottingham Forest have an opportunity to set up a potential doozy of a final day Champions League qualification decider against Chelsea – providing they can see off West Ham at the London Stadium today.
Newcastle will have their say in the top five race when they face Arsenal later on, but for now Forest know that a win would propel them to 65 points – level with Manchester City (who play Bournemouth in midweek) and one point off fifth-placed Chelsea, the very team Forest face next weekend. Oooft. Any dropped points from Nuno Espírito Santo’s men, however, would realistically end their hopes of playing Champions League football next season – not that Europa League or Conference League qualification ought to be looked upon as a failure.
Still, having been riding as high as third for a long time this season, Forest fans will not want to see their side squander another chance to pick up vital points this afternoon, especially against a poor West Ham side whose only win in their past nine matches was at … an even worse Manchester United. The Hammers have little in the way of motivation, while you’d assume Forest will be bang up for it.
Kick off is at 2.15pm (BST) and team news will drop into the next post.
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