Almost a week on from their six-goal drubbing by Arsenal, West Ham United seek to return to winning ways in Saturday's Premier League encounter against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
The two teams were involved in a five-goal thriller at the London Stadium in mid-November, with Tomas Soucek netting in the 88th minute to seal a 3-2 victory for the Hammers.
Match preview
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Three days after edging past Bristol City on penalties to advance to the FA Cup fifth round, Nottingham Forest suffered a 3-2 home defeat to Newcastle United in the Premier League last weekend, extending their winless run in the top flight to four matches.
Forest fought back twice in the first half as strikes from Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi cancelled out goals from Magpies duo Bruno Guimaraes and Fabian Schar, but the hosts were eventually condemned to their 13th league loss of the season courtesy of a 66th-minute strike from Guimaraes.
Since the beginning of November, no team have lost more Premier League games than Forest (nine, level with Brentford and Burnley), with manager Nuno Espirito Santo yet to put his stamp on a side who currently sit 16th in the table and just two points above the relegation zone.
The Tricky Trees have looked vulnerable at the back ever since they returned to the Premier League, keeping just 11 clean sheets in their last 62 matches – the fewest of any ever-present top-flight team since the start of last season – while they have conceded in each of their last 13 games this term since beating Aston Villa 2-0 on home soil in November.
Forest enter Saturday's contest having lost six of their last seven league games on home soil as well as their last two meetings with West Ham, but their 1-0 victory over the Hammers at the City Ground last season should provide Nuno's men with an element of confidence.
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After ending 2023 on an impressive high with nine wins out of 13 matches across all competitions, West Ham are yet to celebrate success in any of their first seven games since the turn of the year, including three draws and back-to-back defeats by an aggregate score of 9-0 in the Premier League.
The Hammers followed up a 3-0 away loss at Manchester United with a humbling 6-0 home defeat to London rivals Arsenal last weekend – the only previous time that they have lost by a six-goal margin in their entire league history was back in December 1963 against Blackburn Rovers (8-2).
Arsenal raced into a four-goal first-half lead which led to thousands of West Ham fans exiting the London Stadium early. Bukayo Saka then added a fifth shortly after the interval before former Hammers man Declan Rice rubbed salt into the hosts' wounds with a superb long-range strike to pile pressure on manager David Moyes.
Contract talks between West Ham and Moyes, who is due to see his current deal expire in June, have allegedly stalled amid the club's concerning run of form which has seen them slip to eighth in the Premier League table and five points behind Man United in sixth place.
The Hammers are desperate to turn their fortunes around in their next four fixtures against teams currently below them in the table, starting with Saturday's clash against a Nottingham Forest side whom they have beaten in their last two meetings by an aggregate score of 7-2.
Team News
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Nottingham Forest are still having to cope without striker Chris Wood and right-back Gonzalo Montiel as they continue to recover from hamstring injuries.
Nuno has also confirmed that Ivory Coast duo Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly, who both celebrated victory in the Africa Cup of Nations final, as well as Nigeria's Ola Aina will not be considered for selection this weekend.
Goalkeeper Matz Sels is set to continue between the sticks after making his Forest debut last time out, while fellow new recruit Giovanni Reyna will battle with Elanga, Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White for a start in attack along with striker Taiwo Awoniyi.
As for West Ham, Moyes has confirmed that Saturday's contest will come too soon for Lucas Paqueta (calf), even though the playmaker was spotted in training earlier this week, while Kurt Zouma, Edson Alvarez and Michail Antonio are all fit to feature; the latter of whom is hoping to make his first appearance since December 12 after recovering from a knee injury.
Moyes will consider making changes to his backline following a "weak" defensive display against Arsenal, with Konstantinos Mavropanos, Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell all hoping to be given a first-team opportunity at the City Ground.
Kalvin Phillips is in contention to return in centre-midfield at the expense of either Soucek or Alvarez, while Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen could be joined in attack by Maxwel Cornet, which may see Ben Johnson, who has been operating further forward in recent weeks, either revert to right-back or drop down to the substitutes' bench.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Sels; Williams, Niakhate, Murillo, Tavares; Yates, Danilo; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Awoniyi
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Areola; Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma, Cresswell; Phillips, Alvarez; Kudus, Ward-Prowse, Cornet; Bowen
We say: Nottingham Forest 2-2 West Ham United
Both sides have been far from watertight defensively but have plenty of attacking players at their disposal to cause problems at the other end, so an entertaining end-to-end contest could be on the cards this weekend.
West Ham got the better of Forest in the reverse fixture, but we believe that the hosts, who are almost at full strength, should do enough to claim at least a share of the spoils in front of a fired-up City Ground crowd.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
