What Nuno said on Nottingham Forest win over West Ham, penalty shout and Taiwo Awoniyi knock

Nottingham Forest celebrate Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal against West Ham United

Nottingham Forest claimed their first Premier League victory of 2024 as they toppled West Ham United 2-0 at the City Ground.

Taiwo Awoniyi opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and Callum Hudson-Odoi made sure of the three points late on. By that point, the visitors had been reduced to 10 men as Kalvin Phillips was sent off for a second bookable offence.

The Reds had opportunities to add to their tally and they felt they should have had a penalty for a foul on Neco Williams, but it was still a big win for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side. Below is a look at what the Forest head coach had to say after the final whistle.

On the game…

“We played a good game. We were disciplined and aggressive. The boys worked really hard and when we had the ball, we had good spells. We had good combinations and created chances.”

On cutting out individual errors and keeping a clean-sheet…

“That was the basic and the most important thing for today, to get those details solved. We had to be practical, pragmatic and compact and aggressive in our own box.

“We needed to control set-pieces and not allow too many, because we know how strong West Ham are in that aspect. The players did really well. We have to keep going.”

On whether Forest should have scored more goals…

“We were winning 1-0, West Ham were a man down but they still pushed us and caused us problems. I wish we could have solved it before, but we showed character and resilience to hold on to that result. A clean-sheet is always important.”

On the penalty shout…

“When it is so obvious, I cannot say anything else other than the truth. For me, it is a penalty.

“The speed of the game, maybe the referee didn’t see it. He is a young referee. But VAR has to interfere and do something because they had time. It took two minutes of checking.

“After you see the image, you ask yourself why. Today the result is different, but last week (against Newcastle United) we were here in sorrow and grief because we expect better decisions.”

On Mark Clattenburg being appointed as referee analyst for the club…

“I haven’t seen him yet. I know the club have done that. What we expect is someone so expert and so good to give us a clear view and an opinion on what is happening.

“Everybody in this room is asking and I am asking myself why (no penalty). I can accept the referee didn’t see it, but when you have VAR it is so obvious. What I expect from Mark is to at least give me an explanation and say what is happening.”

On Taiwo Awoniyi coming off with a knock…

“We have to assess him now. Let’s see how he is.

“We all know he is struggling because he was a long time without competition. We push him – more minutes than he should have done. He is working hard. Let’s hope it is nothing serious.”

On Callum Hudson-Odoi finding form…

“He is playing, that makes a difference. Play, play, play over and over again, that is when the talent comes.

“But there are a lot of things still to come. We expect more, much more – from all of our players.

“We had a lot of chances today. I am proud of how we produced the chances but disappointed because they required a better finish.”

What did you make of Forest’s win over West Ham? Have your say in the comments below