West Ham star Michail Antonio says a Forest player is like Marko Arnautovic and has lifted the lid on his bromance with a City Ground trio.
West Ham face Nottingham Forest this weekend in a huge relegation six-pointer.
The Hammers dropped into the bottom three with defeat to Spurs at the weekend. With Forest managing a 1-1 draw against Man City, it increased the gap between the relegation rivals to five points.
West Ham need to win at least five or six of their remaining 15 matches. So anything but a victory at home to Notts Forest is unthinkable.
There will be plenty of familiar faces on show for West Ham and Nottingham Forest fans at the London Stadium.
Striker Antonio was signed by West Ham from Forest. And the Reds have three ex Hammers in their squad in the shape of Jesse Lingard, Andre Ayew and Cheikhou Kouyate while boyhood West Ham fan Jonjo Shelvey started out in the Irons academy.
Scoring goals has been a major issue for West Ham all season long. One man David Moyes would dearly love to be able to call on is former Hammers hero turned villain Arnautovic.
Friendship will be put to one side this weekend as West Ham go in search of a crucial three points.
Jamaica forward Antonio has been speaking about facing his old club this weekend.
West Ham star Antonio says one Forest player is like Arnautovic and lifts the lid on his bromance with a City Ground trio.
“I love Cheikhou, he is a great character, and to be fair, I hung around with Andre quite a bit (when he was at West Ham) and we went to France together one weekend, just to have some nice food and a night out in Paris,” Antonio told West Ham’s website.
“That was nice, to experience a new place. Andre’s character is a bit like Marko Arnautovic’s. Because he’s very confident in himself, people might take it as arrogance, but actually he’s a really nice guy.
“And then obviously, Jesse is an actual legend. I saw him recently at a concert and really get along with him as well, but when you’re an easy-going person, everyone likes you!”
A West Ham win could lift Moyes’ side up to 15th above Wolves depending on their result at Fulham on Friday night.
But Forest will have the huge incentive of going eight points clear of West Ham with a victory of their own.