West Ham were left shocked at their home game as relegation contenders Nottingham Forest stole a dramatic 2-1 win in an intense relegation battle.
West Ham started the game at a high intensity with a lot of attacking football early on. This was shortly awarded as in the 13th minute after Crysencio Summerville delivered a dangerous cross towards the front post causing chaos and defender Murillo to turn the ball into his own net. This gave the Hammers a well-deserved lead. After the first goal, West Ham controlled big spells of possession while opponents Nottingham Forest were struggling to create clear chances.
Forrest started to grow into the game more as the half progressed, gaining more of the possession however they were still struggling to really test Alphonse Areola as West Hams defence was very strong.
The Hammers went into half time with a narrow advantage and were looking well on track to secure a crucial three points.
After the restart, the home side doubled their lead with a brilliant powerful volley from their winger Summerville. However, this goal was ruled out from VAR for offside giving the away team more belief that they still had a chance which shifted momentum into their favour.
This was proven when Nottingham Forrest scored through Nicolás Domínguez in the 55th minute to equalise. Forrest delivered a well performed set piece towards the front post where he produced a lovely looping header into the back post. This created a lot of nerves for the home team, and this was seen as they were struggling to retain control of the game.
Within the final moments of the game drama unfolded at the London stadium. In the 89th minute we saw Morgan Gibbs-White go down after colliding with Areola in an overloaded penalty box. After a lengthy VAR review, the referee pointed to the spot causing a lot of anger within the home side players and fans.
Gibbs-White calmly stepped up and placed the penalty down the middle sending the goalkeeper the wrong way sealing all three points in a massive win for the away side.
This was another disappointing night for the Hammers, as this result leaves their relegation battle survival hopes looking more unlikely.