Hammers Add Fuel To Forest Fire

Graham Potter finally managed to do what both David Moyes and Julen Lopetegui couldn’t achieve on Sunday afternoon, as he steered West Ham United to their first Premier League win over Nottingham Forest at The City Ground since 1996. The 3-0 victory means that the Hammers are now up and running in the 2025/26 campaign.

Mads Hermansen returned to goal in place of Alphonse Areola, while Max Kilman came back into the starting line-up and was joined in defence by both Kyle Walker Peters and Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Niclas Füllkrug was once again preferred to Callum Wilson as the lone striker, while new signing Mateus Fernandes was straight in for his debut. Jean-Clair Todibo was alongside Areola, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Guido Rodríguez on the bench. Youngsters Oliver Scarles and Freddie Potts were also amongst the substitutes. There was also a welcome return for Crysencio Summerville, who hasn’t featured since Potter’s first game in charge of the club.

A lot has been happening at the East Midlands club in recent weeks and it seemed that it was now spilling over onto the pitch, as Nuno Espírito Santo’s side were not at their best and didn’t give Hermansen much to do, despite controlling much of the possession. On the other hand, the Irons were having the best of the chances but weren’t able to capitalise on them.

In the two previous games between the sides here, the home fans have seen their side be dominant against their visitors but on this particular occasion, it took them twenty minutes to even create an opportunity. They were awarded a number of corners in a short space of time but fortunately, none of them were any trouble for Hermansen.

Two minutes later, the majority inside the stadium were calling for a penalty to be awarded when Callum Hudson-Odoi went down in the area. However, to the relief of those who had made the journey up from East London, referee Craig Pawson, together with the VAR officials gave nothing.

This may be stating the obvious but West Ham have not enjoyed a good start to the current campaign. One of the reasons for this might have been that they hadn’t had enough creativity in midfield.

Thankfully now though, Potter had a solution and decided to throw Fernandes in from the start of this game after his move from Southampton on Friday and it definitely paid dividends, as the Portuguese midfielder was able to find space in behind the hosts’ defence.

The new signing was certainly making an impact, as he evaded the attentions of Tricky Trees’ defender Ola Aina and played in Lucas Paquetá, who forced home goalkeeper Matz Sels into a superb save.

Neither Head-Coach thought it was beneficial to make a half-time change but the East Londoners seemed to reemerge from the away dressing room with more of a purpose.

On the whole, Espírito Santo’s men still appeared to be rather flat but they did create a good-looking chance at the start of the second-half when Chris Wood sent a header towards Hermansen’s goal, but it was easy enough for the Dane to gather.

Both goalkeepers were being tested by this point but it would have to have taken something special to beat either Hermansen, or Sels here. The Belgian stopper was however producing heroics to keep his side in the contest.

Füllkrug was ineffectual throughout this match so, on sixty four minutes, Potter decided it was time to bring on his first change. The former Swansea City and Chelsea Head-Coach replaced the German with Wilson. The summer recruit from Newcastle United was certainly giving the visiting fans and staff another glimpse of what he was capable of, as he sent an effort towards the top corner but Sels somehow got a hand to it.

Another substitution was made by the away side just eleven minutes later when Andrew Irving entered the fray for James Ward-Prowse and within five minutes of Irving’s introduction, Summerville also took the place of Fernandes.

The Dutchman was visibly pleased to be back in action and made a big difference as the home side just couldn’t cope with his pace.

With six minutes of normal time to play, the former Leeds United winger played the ball to captain Jarrod Bowen, who shot past Sels on the turn. Those housed in the away end were just hoping that Potter’s men could hold on.

They didn’t just hold on but increased their lead just four minutes later. The latest change played his part again when he raced into the box and was about to shoot, only for Ibrahim Sangaré to send him tumbling in the box. Pawson had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. Paquetá stepped up and confidently sent Sels the wrong way.

Just after nine minutes of stoppage time had been signalled, two became three when Wilson added his name to the scoresheet and headed El Hadji Malick Diouf’s perfect cross home and the travelling support went wild again!!!

That was the end of the scoring but the visitors could so nearly have had a fourth, as the skipper ran the length of the pitch but, just as he was about to pull the trigger, Wilson took it off his toe.

After the added period, Pawson blew the final whistle and loud cheers could be heard from a packed away section. The team will definitely want to build on this performance, as they face a second London derby of the season when Tottenham Hotspur arrive in Stratford for the late kick-off on 13 September.

In other news, the transfer window is now closed but five deals were confirmed. Defender Emerson Palmieri has headed to France and signed a permanent deal with Olympique de Marseille, where he will be joined by teammate Nayef Aguerd. Youngsters Junior Robinson, Lewis Orford and Finlay Herrick will spend the remainder of the current season on loan deals with Scottish club Livingston, Sky Bet League One side Stevenage and Vanarama National League club Boreham Wood respectively and Maxwel Cornet has returned to Italy for a second loan spell at Genoa.

Whilst all those players headed out of East London, Potter has added two more to his squad in the shape of 19-year-old French defender Dimitri Colau and Igor Julio, who the Hammers’ Head-Coach has brought in from his former club Brighton and Hove Albion on a straight season-long loan. The Brazilian defender will hope to make his debut for the club in that “big” match against Spurs.