Gibbs-White scores late Forest winner to leave West Ham adrift

Nottingham Forest fought back from a goal down and scored a dramatic late penalty to claim a vital victory over fellow strugglers West Ham United.

Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola conceded the spot-kick when he failed to get to a cross and his fist instead collided with Morgan Gibbs-White’s face, with the decision awarded after an intervention from the video assistant referee (VAR).

Gibbs-White then calmly converted the penalty to secure Forest’s first win in five matches, while the Hammers’ winless run stretches to 10 games.

The hosts, without a victory since 8 November, took a 13th-minute lead when Crysencio Summerville’s excellent left-wing corner was flicked on by Tomas Soucek and Forest defender Murillo headed into his own net from close range.

After Callum Hudson-Odoi hit the crossbar for the visitors, West Ham thought they had doubled the lead through Summerville’s strike only for it to be ruled out as new signing Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos was judged offside earlier in the move.

That proved costly as Forest equalised minutes later.

The goal was very similar to West Ham’s as Elliot Anderson’s inswinging corner from the left was converted by Nicolas Dominguez’s looping header, before the late penalty drama.

The result leaves West Ham 18th, seven points behind Forest in 17th.

It proved to be another frustrating evening for boss Nuno Espirito Santo, who has now collected only 11 points from his 16 games in charge of the Hammers since replacing the sacked Graham Potter in September.

That is the lowest total from any West Ham boss in the Premier League era – and the side now face an almighty battle if they are to stay in the top flight, which they have been in since 2012-13.

They were booed off at the end of the match by some of the remaining fans, though a large number had left before the final whistle.

Nuno, booked in the second half for complaining after a decision had gone against his side, had apologised to fans for what he called an “embarrassing” performance during their 3-0 loss to bottom club Wolves on Saturday.

He would have been pleased with his side’s effort against Forest, though a lack of clinical finishing again proved decisive.

Leading 1-0 at the break, West Ham began the second half well with Jarrod Bowen firing one chance just over, before Summerville thought he had made it 2-0 only for VAR to rule that Castellanos was narrowly offside.

Argentina international Castellanos was making his Premier League debut after joining from Italian club Lazio earlier this week for an undisclosed fee. He worked hard up front, but he struggled to create chances.

His best opportunity came midway through the first half from Soucek’s right-wing cross, but Castellanos got his volley all wrong, with the ball bouncing off him, and the chance vanished.

Nuno, who took Forest into European football before being sacked after three games of this campaign, brought on his other January signing: Brazilian forward Pablo Felipe, who joined from Portuguese club Gil Vicente.

Felipe’s best effort was deflected over the top – but if West Ham are to have any chance of staying up, they will need their two new additions to find the goalscoring touch quickly.

Once again, the Hammers failed to hang on to a point and the pressure on Nuno increases.

The final whistle celebrations showed how important this victory was for Forest.

It has been a tough campaign for them since Nuno took them seventh in 2024-25, their highest finish in 30 years.

He was sacked in September before Ange Postecoglou lasted 39 days as Forest manager, then Dyche became the side’s third of the season.

He picked up 13 points from his first eight games in charge, although four successive league losses had left them only four points above West Ham before Tuesday’s game.

Dyche and the Forest fans would have worried the gap might close to one point, despite the visitors playing well in the first half.

Neco Williams had a 20-yard effort superbly tipped over by Areola when the score was goalless and Hudson-Odoi was unlucky to see his strike bounce off the bar when the home goalkeeper was well beaten.

But Forest scored an equaliser within 10 minutes of the second half and had to survive some pressure before Gibbs-White kept his composure to score the match-winning penalty.

Forest still have plenty of work to do to ensure their own safety, but these three points gives them some breathing space.

West Ham have two London derbies in their next two matches. They host Championship outfit Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup on Sunday (14:30 GMT), before returning to league action with a trip to Tottenham on Saturday, 17 January (15:00 GMT).

Nottingham Forest play in Wales at Championship side Wrexham in the third round of the FA Cup on Friday (19:30 GMT), before entertaining Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday, 17 January (17:30 GMT).