Preview: Nottingham Forest vs West Ham – Prediction, Team News, Line-ups

It is a measure of just how bad West Ham’s start to the season has been that, for all the uncertainty surrounding Nuno Espírito Santo’s future at the City Ground, it is difficult to look beyond a Nottingham Forest victory on Sunday.

In ordinary circumstances, the prospect of losing a manager who has not only fought a successful battle against relegation but also ended a 30-year absence from European competition would be enough to derail a club.

But despite Espírito Santo’s very public fall-out with Forest owner Evangleos Marinakis – the Portuguese said on Friday that the pair would discuss the situation over the forthcoming international break – West Ham find themselves in far from ordinary circumstances.

Graham Potter has won just five of his 21 games in charge since taking up the reins at the London Stadium in January, but the nadir came with a 5-1 capitulation against Chelsea last weekend.

That loss, which followed a 3-0 mauling at Sunderland on the opening weekend, confirmed West Ham’s worst start to a league campaign in more than 70 years. The only ray of light for the east London club, following captain Jarrod Bowen’s angry confrontation with supporters after the midweek League Cup defeat at Wolves, is that it is difficult to see how things could get any worse.

Forest have started the season in contrastingly strong fashion, Chris Wood scoring a brace in a 3-1 home win over Brentford before Callum Hudson-Odoi secured a valuable point from a tricky visit to Crystal Palace last weekend.

Forest have won their past three league meetings with West Ham and, off-pitch turbulence notwithstanding, there is little to suggest that pattern is about to change.

Nottingham Forest vs West Ham team news

Injured midfielder Nicolás Dominguez is the sole absentee for Forest. 

West Ham will be able to call on the services of Mateus Fernandes, the striker signed from Southampton. George Earthy, Crysencio Summerville and Luis Guilherme remain sidelined.  

Nottingham Forest vs West Ham predicted lineups

Nottingham Forest: Matz Sels; Ola Aina, Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams; Ibrahim Sangare, Elliot Anderson; Dan Ndoye, Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi; Chris Wood.

West Ham: Mads Hermansen; Jean-Clair Todibo, Max Kilman, Nayef Aguerd, Aaron Wan-Bissaka; James Ward-Prowse, Tomas Soucek, El Hadji Diouf; Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen, Mateus Fernandes.