Mark Lawrenson shares David Moyes conversation as he predicts West Ham United vs Nottingham Forest result
Mark Lawrenson has backed under pressure David Moyes to record a vital West Ham win over Nottingham Forest after speaking to the Irons boss.
The former Liverpool defender believes the board still back the manager despite a miserable season that sees the club heading into the game on Saturday (25 February) inside the relegation zone.
He claims that if the Scot was sacked for a second time it would essentially leave the Hammers having to face the prospect of appointing the same man for a third stint, and has predicted a nervy 1-0 win.
In his Paddy Power column this week Lawrenson said: “David Moyes is under pressure. I spoke to him the other day and he’s still got the confidence of the board. They’ve sacked him before and if they sack him again who are they going to go for?
“They’ll be looking for another David Moyes! Nottingham Forest obviously got a tremendous points against Manchester City when they could have been beaten about eight.
“They don’t know when they’re beaten but I’ll go for a narrow, nervy win for West Ham because they really, really need it. West Ham 1-0 Nottingham Forest.”
Devil you know
Moyes has done a great job previously as Hammers boss and it may be true that he is the exact type of manager they might be looking at if they were hiring right now.
But it is all very well knowing that when the club remains in relegation danger with games passing one by one and less than four months of the season left.
Prior to the defeat at Tottenham there had been some positive signs of growth over the previous few matches, admittedly from a pretty low starting point.
But the speed with which any improvement is made has to be turned up significantly with the situation at relegation rivals changing rapidly.
Revivals appear to be under way at both Everton and Southampton, and with Leeds finally appointing a new manager they could yet follow suit.
That would leave West Ham as the odd one out, with only the sinking Bournemouth for company, so a home game against a team like Forest needs a positive result.
Steve Cooper has turned around the promoted side’s fortunes since they were languishing at the foot of the table earlier in the season so Moyes needs to take heed of that and produce something similar.