West Ham United vs Nottingham Forest. Premier League.
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Report and free match highlights from the Premier League match between West Ham and Nottingham Forest at the London Stadium as goals from Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek earned David Moyes' Hammers their first league win since September 30
Monday 13 November 2023 06:16, UK
Tomas Soucek struck a late winner as West Ham fought back from 2-1 down to beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 in a thriller at the London Stadium.
Both of West Ham's late goals were created by a James Ward-Prowse corner.
Lucas Paqueta had put the Hammers - who had won just one of their previous seven Premier League outings - in front inside three minutes after a glaring error from Nicolas Dominguez, but the teams went in level at the break after Taiwo Awoniyi tapped in when Morgan Gibbs-White's shot was saved.
Anthony Elanga's goal turned the game in Forest's favour for the first time after just over an hour, but West Ham hit back when Jarrod Bowen headed home Ward-Prowse's pinpoint corner to set up a tense finale.
It was Soucek who had the final say. After stretching to divert a cross onto the bar, the Czech midfielder won the game when he leapt to meet another Ward-Prowse corner and planted a header beyond Odysseas Vlachodimos.
West Ham move up to ninth after taking the points, while Nottingham Forest stay down in 15th.
Before the game had even got anywhere near settling into a rhythm, Forest put themselves on the backfoot. Dominguez inexplicably put his pass into the back of team-mate Ibrahim Sangare, with the ball ricocheting into the path of Paqueta, who stayed alert and arrowed into the bottom-right corner.
On another day, an onslaught might have followed, but the visitors responded reasonably well and might have pulled level had it not been for Alphonse Areola, who gloriously clawed away Awoniyi's header.
Noise inside the London Stadium rose significantly each time the Hammers embarked on a breakaway, but for the most part, they flattered to deceive - and so Forest levelled just before the break. Morgan Gibbs-White advanced at pace and tried a shot, which was parried by Areola, with Awoniyi on hand to sweep the loose ball into the net.
The second half started in the manner of a basketball match; Awoniyi dragged a shot wide after exchanging passes with Elanga three times, while Ward-Prowse sent a trademark free-kick dipping just an inch or two over the bar.
It was Forest who struck next to complete the turnaround. Sangare strode forward and found Ola Aina, who picked out the unmarked Elanga, who slotted home - and even removed his GPS vest amid impassioned celebrations.
But the lead lasted all of 43 seconds following the restart. Ward-Prowse delivered a corner from the left, with Bowen peeling away from Danilo and heading home the equaliser.
From there, West Ham were never going to falter. Soucek stretched to get on the end of a poor attempted clearance from Aina and rattled the woodwork with the goal gaping, but he did get his moment with two minutes remaining, when he too met a Ward-Prowse delivery to send a feeling of relief and eurporia around the stadium.
The man constantly left out of Gareth Southgate's England squads again showed why has more than earned a chance on the international stage.
Throughout the game, Ward-Prowse only misplaced four of his 70 passes, but - most crucially - he provided the assists that enabled West Ham to turn the game in their favour for good.
West Ham manager David Moyes:
"We needed that, but so do all the clubs. I was thrilled with the opening minutes, and with the end few minutes. But our play was too slow in the first half and we lost a goal before half-time as well. In the second half, after we went behind we played really well to get ourselves back in the game and to win it was tremendous.
"I'm quite pleased that he [Ward-Prowse] will get a rest this week, with the amount of games we've had. Let's be fair, he is world class at his deliveries, and if I was him I'd be disappointed the other boys haven't scored more from his deliveries."
Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper:
"I think if we'd drawn 2-2, I'd have been disappointed. I can't look past the goals we've given away. We gifted them a goal at the start, worked our way back into it and then to concede a corner after five seconds from kick-off and defend like we did is frustrating.
"The third goal is from our throw-in, it's a corner again and we didn't do our jobs. Whether the ball coming in is brilliant or average, you've got the stay with your man.
"We know we are doing a lot of better things away from home but we've just thrown a result away, and to lose it like we did, it was our own fault, I can't look past that. There was a real opportunity to come here to win and we were doing that. Today was a different away performance and loss. This is one we are going, 'we've just thrown it away'. This could have been a much more comfortable day and we've only got ourselves to blame."
After the international break, West Ham are back in action on Saturday November 25. They travel to Burnley; kick-off 3pm.
Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest also play on Saturday November 25 when they host Brighton; kick-off 3pm.
