English Premier
2026-01-06 - West Ham United vs Nottingham Forest
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Tuesday 6th January 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
West Ham United
Reports have picked up that the West Ham United board are considering another change in the managerial department as Nuno Espirito Santo struggles to oversee the positive results needed to drag the club out of the bottom three. There are even some suggesting the change will be made on Tuesday evening if West Ham United are not able to beat Espirito Santo's former club in what feels a 'relegation six pointer'.
The Hammers will be pleased to have seen Nottingham Forest lose again this past weekend, but the supporters would have been furious with the performance in the 3-0 thumping at bottom club Wolves. All three goals were conceded in the first half and West Ham United remain 4 points from safety and desperately trying to improve the 2-1-7 record at the London Stadium.
West Ham United have now not won any of the last 9 Premier League games, but the real concern for the board is that they have been beaten in 4 of the last 5 fixtures played. The side did snap a run of 3 consecutive home defeats when earning a 2-2 draw with Brighton most recently at the London Stadium.
Lucas Paqueta was surprisingly missing on Saturday and the home team will be desperate for him to be available for this pivotal fixture.
Nottingham Forest
It is a results based business and any downturn in those will put a manager under pressure, although Sean Dyche seems to retain more support of the Nottingham Forest board compared with his opposite number in the other dugout. That does not mean Dyche can rest easy and the pressure will intensify if his team are beaten in East London on Tuesday evening.
They are 17th in the Premier League table, but a number of recent setbacks have prevented Nottingham Forest from climbing more than 4 points clear of the relegation zone ahead of another vital round of fixtures. The Tricky Trees were well beaten at Aston Villa on Saturday and will be expecting a much stronger performance against another club that plays in claret and blue.
Nottingham Forest have followed the thumping win over Tottenham Hotspur by losing 4 Premier League games in a row and the pressure is back on the manager. They have now lost 3 away Premier League games in a row since the victory over rivals Wolves, and Nottingham Forest have been conceding far too many goals in those defeats which will be a concern for Sean Dyche.
John Victor had taken over as the number one choice goalkeeper, but suffered an injury in making a mistake on Saturday that led to Aston Villa's third goal. That is expected to rule him out, while the likes of Ryan Yates are still on the sidelines. Both Dan Ndoye and Callum Hudson-Odoi are hoping to be able to travel with the squad.
Head to Head
Nuno Espirito Santo was managing Nottingham Forest when they were beaten 0-3 at home by West Ham United at the end of August and he was Sacked soon afterwards.
West Ham United had won 5 in a row at home against Nottingham Forest, but were beaten 1-2 here in May 2025 to snap that run.
Prediction
Losing at Wolves would have hurt, but losing in the manner that West Ham United did has meant alarm bells ringing loudly in East London.
Conceding three first half goals meant West Ham United were not even competitive against an opponent that had not won a League game all season and there is a real pressure around Nuno Espirito Santo.
The concern for the manager has to be the last time West Ham United faced Nottingham Forest, his team were well beaten at home and Nuno was Sacked soon afterwards.
That was back in August as Nuno Espirito Santo's Nottingham Forest were beaten 0-3 by West Ham United at the City Ground so there would be some irony if a home loss for his current club against his former club ended with another departure.
Reports have been that the West Ham United squad have lost faith in what Nuno Espirito Santo is trying to do and the gap to safety is going to look huge if The Hammers were to lose this week.
It makes it tough to know what to expect from the home team, but they are facing Nottingham Forest at a good time with Sean Dyche overseeing 4 straight League losses that has prevented them from moving clear of the bottom three. The pressure is not quite as intense on Dyche as it is for Nuno Espirito Santo, but a loss on Tuesday would certainly have members of the board becoming twitchy and perhaps thinking of a fourth new manager in the 2025/26 season.
Nottingham Forest's recent away form has not been very impressive, but they may feel they can counter with real success in this fixture.
At the same time, West Ham United have to believe they have shown enough in recent home games to expect some kind of response to the miserable loss at Molineux.
Genuinely this game is tough to read with all the factors in play- you can't really point to anything as a good reason to back up the selection being made.
In saying that, West Ham United are down as the underdog and that feels a little wrong if only because they are hosting and Nottingham Forest have been struggling for real creativity in the final third.
The first goal is going to be massively important for both clubs and perhaps the best lean is with West Ham United using a start on the Asian Handicap, although it isn't a bet that is worth a lot of units from the bank.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
West Ham United 1-0 Nottingham Forest
