Nottingham Forest kept their Champions League hopes very much alive as they survived a nervy finish to claim a 2-1 win at West Ham.
Forest suffered a major setback last Sunday when they were held 2-2 by relegated Leicester City in a game that saw striker Taiwo Awoniyi suffer a severe abdominal injury.
They were much improved at London Stadium, and took control as Morgan Gibbs-White pounced on an early mistake from Alphonse Areola and Nikola Milenkovic glanced in from a free-kick.
But a stunning Jarrod Bowen volley gave West Ham hope of a comeback, and Forest had to survive over 17 minutes of added time before they could celebrate moving level on points with sixth-placed Manchester City and a point behind Aston Villa in the race for the top five.
West Ham v Nottingham Forest
A frenetic start to the match saw Matz Sels turn over the crossbar from a Tomas Soucek header in the second minute before Morgan Gibbs-White was denied by Areola.
Vladimir Coufal a deflected effort kept out by Sels as West Ham continued to show early attacking promise but, after Areola had thwarted Chris Wood at the other end, the French goalkeeper presented Forest with a gift that undid the hosts’ good work in the opening exchanges.
Areola’s attempt to play out from the back proved a dreadful decision, his pass going straight to Gibbs-White, who made no mistake with a confident finish.
Gibbs-White ran to the corner flag and lifted up Awoniyi’s jersey in a tribute to his recovering colleague, and Forest’s lead would have been doubled had Areola not turned a close-range Wood header onto the post.
West Ham remained a sporadic attacking threat despite the malaise that appeared to envelop the stadium following the opening goal, Mohamed Kudus almost bringing life back to the home crowd when he powered a header wide.
Forest received a boost to start the second half when Murillo emerged for the restart, his day having previously looked to be over when he was helped off by the medical staff at half-time.
And they put themselves in command just after the hour when Milenkovic diverted Anthony Elanga’s in-swinging delivery into the net with the top of his shoulder, the goal confirmed following a VAR check that took over six minutes.
Forest didn’t quite kill off the game, though, Carlos Soler denied by Sels and Luis Guilherme seeing a seemingly goal-bound effort blocked.
Still, it looked as if Forest would coast to victory, only for Bowen to fray the nerves in spectacular fashion as he controlled Milenkovic’s poor defensive header with his heel and then lashed an unstoppable volley beyond Sels.
That left Forest to hold on for a remarkable amount of stoppage time, and there was almost a sting in the tail when Sels repelled Niclas Fullkrug’s header.
Forest eventually cleared before a prolonged fracas between the sides meant the clock surpassed 117 minutes, but the visitors were able to celebrate when it was finally stopped.
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