West Ham are looking to turn their fortunes around as they take a tough trip to the Midlands to take on Nottingham Forest.
- Date: 31/08/2025
- Kick-off: 2:00pm
- Location: City Ground, Nottingham
Nottingham Forest have picked up four points from their first two games of the Premier League season. The Reds began with a comfortable 3-1 win over Brentford, which was followed by a 1-1 draw away at Crystal Palace. Forest will be disappointed not have taken three points from Selhurst Park, with substitute Igor Jesus hitting the woodwork late on while Omari Hutchinson missed a good chance at the death.
They'll feel confident about rectifying that here, though, as they take on a struggling West Ham side. Forest were strong at home last season, boasting the 7th best home record in the league, conceding just 16 goals in 19 games.
After last season's excellent campaign, Forest are looking to build on their status as a club competing in Europe, and while they've had a strong transfer window, not everything has been running smoothly. There has been much speculation about the future of manager Nuno Santo after it was revealved that he has a very strained relationship with the new Global Head of Football, Edu Gaspar.
Reports in the media have suggested at times that Nuno has been close to leaving the club, but as of now, nothing has materialised. Nuno's comments after the Palace match suggested that he's keen to patcht things up with Edu, but things are very much TBC on that front.
Regardless, those issues haven't been affecting the quality of Forest's performances, as they'll be more than satisfied with their opening two showings. Once new faces such as Dan Ndoye, Omari Hutchinson, Arnaud Kalimuendo, and James McAtee fully settle into the club, they'll feel in a strong position to kick on.
West Ham, meanwhile, are going through a very rough patch. Many Hammers fans were scepitcal about the club's prospects under Graham Potter following a series of drab performances last season, and despite Potter having a full pre-season with the club, things appear to have only deteriorated.
West Ham were beaten 3-0 by Sunderland on the opening weekend, before losing 1-5 to Chelsea last weekend and 3-2 to Wolves in the EFL Cup in midweek. The latter was a result that caused a singificant confrontation on the pitch between Jarrod Bowen and a section of the West Ham fan base, highlighting that tensions are reaching a boiling point.
The Hammers have looked a poor team for a long time and look well short on both quality and athletic ability, especially in midfield. They're facing a Forest team here that they have a poor recent record against, losing all of their last three head-to-head meetings. Games between these two tend to produce goals, with four of the last five clashes seeing over 2.5 goals land, but it's not one that looks likely to yield a positive result for West Ham, who will likely have more misery piled on them at the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest 3-1 West Ham
