Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo insisted he is not looking at the Premier League table despite his side’s fine start to the season. (More Football News)
Forest earned their fourth win of the campaign against East Midlands rivals Leicester City last time out, with Chris Wood’s brace helping them to a 3-1 win at the King Power Stadium.
The Tricky Trees currently sit eighth in the early-season standings, but that matters little to Nuno, who expects further improvement from his side in the coming months to fully realise what he believes is their true potential.
"We played a good game, very stable, confident and solid. Our organisation was good, I am delighted," Nuno told Sky Sports.
"It is not about the table, what is more important is to see our fans celebrate like they did today. What is important is how we do things, how we continue to progress.
"It is the commitment, we as a group want to progress, become better and play good football.
"They (the players) have the ability, we need to make them stronger so we can build on it." They deserve it since last season was so this is a moment for them to enjoy.”
West Ham, meanwhile, needed an injury-time penalty from Jarrod Bowen to earn a 2-1 victory over Manchester United, a result that would lead to Erik ten Hag’s dismissal.
It’s been an inconsistent start to the season for the Hammers, though, who have managed 11 points from their first nine games under new manager, Julen Lopetegui.
But Sunday’s match-winner Bowen said that their result against United must be the catalyst for their campaign, with aspirations of qualifying for Europe again this term.
"It needs to be because this season we have been in positions where we have won 4-1 against Ipswich, then gone and lost 4-1 to Tottenham,” Bowen said.
"It's about consistently winning games and, if you want to be successful, you have to see it as a building block."
Max Kilman echoed his captain’s thoughts, saying: “It's been a tough start, but we showed a lot of resilience and a lot of character.
“We’ve seen with the second half performance how we pushed on and we've got a great result against a top team.
“All the boys who came on have done a great job and changed the game for us and that's what we need, the whole squad to push us on.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Nottingham Forest – Chris Wood
Wood has scored seven Premier League goals this season, already the most by a Forest player in their first 10 games in a single campaign in the competition.
Overall, he’s scored 22 Premier League goals for the Tricky Trees, with only Bryan Roy netting more (24). The New Zealander has also netted more goals (seven) against the Hammers than any other side he has faced in the top-flight.
West Ham – Jarrod Bowen
Bowen’s winning penalty against United last time out was his 78th Premier League goal involvement for West Ham (46 goals, 32 assists), with only Michail Antonio (101) and Mark Noble (82) registering more for the Hammers (Paolo Di Canio also 78).
The England international has also created more chances (22) this season than any of his team-mates, with midfielder Tomas Soucek in second on just nine.
MATCH PREDICTION: NOTTINGHAM FOREST WIN
Forest have won both of their Premier League home games against West Ham since their return to the division in 2022. They last won more consecutively against the Hammers between 1969 and 1978 (four).
The Tricky Trees have won their last two Premier League games – they last won three in a row in the top-flight in May 1999.
Only Liverpool (five) have conceded fewer Premier League goals than Nottingham Forest this season (seven). It’s their fewest goals conceded at this stage of a league season since 2014-15 (seven in the Championship) and fewest in the top-flight since 1978-79 (seven).
West Ham, meanwhile, have won two of their last three Premier League games (L1), as many as they had in their previous 12. They’re looking to win back-to-back league games for the first time since March.
However, the Hammers have kept a clean sheet in just one of their last 24 Premier League games played outside of London, conceding in each of their last 15 since a 4-0 win at Bournemouth in April 2023.
West Ham have also lost only two of their last four Premier League games against Nottingham Forest (W2), having lost just one of their previous 15 against them in the top-flight (W7 D7).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Nottingham Forest – 41.4%
Draw – 26.7%
West Ham – 31.9%
