Nottingham Forest kept their hopes of the very lively Champions League when they survived a nervous final to win a 2-1 victory in West Ham.
Forest underwent a major setback last Sunday when they were detained 2-2 by the relegated Leicester City in a match that saw the Taiwo Awoniyi striker undergoes a serious abdominal injury.
They were well improved at the London Stadium and took control while Morgan Gibbs-White jumped on an early error by Alphonse Areola and Nikola Milenkovic was taking a look at a free kick.
But a magnificent Jarrod Bowen Volley gave West Ham hope of a return, and Forest had to survive more than 17 minutes more time before being able to celebrate the level of travel on points with the sixth City of Manchester and a point behind Aston Villa in the race for the top five.
West Ham against Nottingham Forest
A frantic start of the match saw the Matz salts return the transverse bar of a Tomas Soucek header in the second minute before Morgan Gibbs-White was refused by Areola.
Vladimir Coufal A deviated effort held by Salts while West Ham continued to show an early attacker promise, but, after Areola threw Chris Wood on the other side, the French goalkeeper presented a gift to Forest that defeated the good work of the hosts in the discussions of opening.
Areola’s attempt to play the rear proved to be a terrible decision, his pass going directly to Gibbs-White, which was not mistaken with a confident finish.
Gibbs-White ran to the local flag and raised the Awoniyi jersey in tribute to his colleague in recovery, and Forest’s advance would have been doubled if Areola had not turned a wooden head near the post.
West Ham remained an attacking sporadic threat despite the discomfort that seemed to envelop the stadium after the opening goal, Mohamed Kudus almost bringing life back to the crowd when he propelled a wide head.
Forest received a boost to start the second half when Murillo emerged for the restart, his day having already seemed to be finished when he was helped by the medical staff at halftime.
And they got in charge just after Milenkovic diverted the in-swing delivery of Anthony Elaga in the net with the top of his shoulder, the goal confirmed following a Var check that took more than six minutes.
Forest did not quite killed the game, however, Carlos Soler denied by salts and Luis Guilherme by seeing an effort apparently linked to blocked goals.
However, it seemed that Forest continued to victory, only for Bowen to shook the nerves spectacularly while he controlled Milenkovic’s poor defensive head with his heel, then hit an unstoppable volley beyond the salts.
This left the forest to keep a remarkable quantity of stopping time, and there was almost a bite in the tail when salts pushed the head of Niclas Fullkrug.
The forest finally cleaned before a prolonged crash between the sides meant that the clock exceeded 117 minutes, but visitors were able to celebrate when it was finally arrested.
