When ranking the ‘most West Ham things to ever happen’, a direct relegation rival matching their sudden upturn in form – as Nottingham Forest are doing right now – is surely up there.
A week ago, the Hammers cut the gap between themselves and 17th, only to see the team on the other side of the dotted line pick up an unexpected point against Arsenal.
Eight days later, while West Ham stormed past Sunderland at the London Stadium, Nottingham Forest travelled to high-flying Brentford and pulled off a 2-0 victory. Typical isn’t it. Only four teams in the whole division have gone unbeaten in their previous two matches at the time of writing.
One of those is West Ham United, and another is Forest.
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In the space of two matchdays, the gap from 17th to 18th has gone from seven points to five, five to two, and back to five again.
Just to make this even more frustrating, it was a striker so heavily linked with the Hammers not so long ago – Igor Jesus – who set Forest on their way in West London.
West Ham United wanted Igor Jesus before he joined Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest signed Igor Jesus from Botafogo last summer for what is shaping up to be a bargain fee of £10 million.
Now, one can only presume there is a mistake somewhere. The numbers just don’t add up, right?
The Londoners have been guiltier than most when it comes to overpaying for number nines. But RTI Esporte claim that West Ham saw a £34 million bid rejected by Botafogo only a few months before Forest got Jesus for a third of that fee. Can that really be the case?
Then again, when John Textor is involved, the numbers don’t have to make sense. The highly-controversial Botafogo owner would later row back on suggestions that a close friendship with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis allowed the two clubs to ‘adjust’ Jesus’ transfer fee, but he did admit to The Times that the striker had left Brazil for a lower fee than had been initially planned.
“His injury history was the greatest reason we didn’t get paid more for him,” Textor said at the time.
Whatever really happened during those negotiations between Textor’s Botafogo and Marinakis’ Nottingham Forest, the sight of Igor Jesus firing the Midlanders in front away at Brentford adds irony to injury for West Ham.
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That was only Igor Jesus’ second Premier League goal in 22 appearances. As much as he has been praised for his work ethic and high-pressing nature, more end product will be required if Forest are to stay the right side of the relegation zone.
You could say the same, of course, about the two new faces in West Ham’s attack.
Captain Jarrod Bowen was full of praise for Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe as the duo put in the hard yards against Sunderland. Yet, the £44 million duo have scored only one goal between them so far, and that came in the FA Cup.
“We’ve kind of gone to a more of an old-school traditional 4-4-2 in the last couple of weeks with the two new strikers up front, and I think they’ve worked really well,” Bowen said.
“I think their work without the ball especially has been really good. It’s given us a better kind of platform. We’re not as open and a little bit more compact.”
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