Following a good result against Manchester United last week in a 2-1 league win at the London Stadium, a large section of the West Ham fans believed that Julen Lopetegui's side can now extend their winning momentum in the next few matches before the international break. However, taking some points from the away fixture against in-form Nottingham Forest was a significant task for the Hammers, who were defeated 4-1 by Ange Postecoglou's side in the previous away match a few weeks ago.
Manager Julen Lopetegui returned to a three centre-back formation for this match with Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Konstantinos Mavropanos all starting in the central defender role. Aaron Wan-Bissaka was again played as a right midfielder which meant that the Hammers need to score a few early goals as they would have to defend some counter-attack chances throughout the match.
Hammers face consecutive away defeats after conceding three goals against Nottingham Forest
Cryscencio Summerville was given his first Premier League start for West Ham after scoring an important goal against Manchester United, and Lucas Paqueta played on the right flank alongside starting centre forward Jarrod Bowen. The home side started the match by creating a few good chances inside the box and scored the opening goal inside the first half as well.
Alex Moreno took advantage of the empty spaces on the right side of the defence and dribbled Mavropanos before laying a perfect pass towards in-form striker Chris Wood, who again gave a 1-0 lead to Nuno Espirito Santo's side. While West Ham struggled to create some good chances from both flanks, Nottingham Forest constantly found a lot of space behind West Ham's midfield and stepped up their goalscoring efforts further.
Towards the end of the first half, Anthony Elanga made a brilliant run on the right-wing, but Edson Alvarez received a red-card due to his mistimed tackle on the Nottingham Forest forward. West Ham again had to play with ten players in back-to-back away matches, thus, had to create more huge chances inside the second half to make a comeback in the match.
The visitors again started the second half on a high note as well, and Callum Hudson-Odoi scored a long-range goal from a set-piece to double their lead before the hour mark in the match. Fifteen minutes later, fullback Ola Aina scored the third goal for Nottingham Forest with an impressive top-corner finish to guide Nuno's side to consecutive Premier League wins by securing the three points from this 3-0 win.
For West Ham, this was another great opportunity to find some momentum in the Premier League before the November international break, but the attack as well as the defence again struggled in front of Nottingham Forest's high-pressing and counter-attack tactics in the match. Now, the next league fixture is against bottom-table side Everton and Julen Lopetegui's side will aim towards taking another home win at the London Stadium to improve their position in the Premier League table before the second half of the season.