West Ham will slip seven points adrift of safety if they lose to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday (20:00 GMT) in a game which sees Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo face the club that sacked him in September. BBC Sport examines some of the key themes before the match.
Pressure growing on Espirito Santo
Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by bottom club Wolves – previously winless – marked a new low for West Ham under Nuno. The head coach had to apologise to Hammers fans who had travelled to Molineux, admitting the first-half display was “embarrassing”.
The 51-year-old also highlighted “a lack of effort that is really concerning”, questioning whether some of his squad “realise the situation we are in”. The Hammers hierarchy certainly do and, even if doubts are creeping in over the wisdom of appointing Nuno, they have sanctioned urgent spending in the January transfer window to give the club a fighting chance of survival.
Brazilian striker Pablo Felipe was an unused substitute against Wolves after joining from Portuguese side Gil Vicente for a reported £21.8m fee, while Argentine forward Taty Castellanos arrived from Lazio on Monday for approximately £26m.
New signings are clearly needed as the managerial change has not sparked an improvement. In fact, since Nuno took charge on 27 September they have averaged fewer points per game than under his processor Graham Potter, also conceding more goals and scoring fewer.
And yet, West Ham are chasing a first top-flight double over Forest since 1968-69, having won 3-0 at the City Ground in August — a result that proved to be Nuno’s final match in charge of the two-time European Cup winners.
Should his current side lose on Tuesday, his future as Hammers boss will come under increased scrutiny.