Nuno Espirito Santo ‘to go back to Nottingham Forest’ as West Ham sack verdict dropped already
Time may have ran out for Nuno Espirito Santo at West Ham.
West Ham fell to a 3-0 defeat against Wolves on Saturday afternoon, in what is a new low for Nuno’s reign as Hammers boss.
Lucas Paqueta wasn’t available for West Ham at Molineux, but Rob Edwards’ side displayed a rare ruthlessness in attack, and had the game won by the time referee Peter Bankes blew the half-time whistle.
Nuno has been under major pressure at the London Stadium for weeks now, as the 51-year-old struggles to turn the growing relegation tide.
West Ham drew 2-2 with Brighton prior to Saturday’s clash with Wolves, which amid all drama around the three first half penalties and a general feeling of a big opportunity having been missed, it did offer some hope that improvement could be on the way.
Nuno Espirito Santo tipped for sensational managerial U-turn
However, even the most optimistic West Ham supporters must now be struggling to see any way out of the mess their team has found themselves in.
The Hammers find themselves four points adrift of safety, which on paper is not an insurmountable deficit to overcome by any means.
But, with Nuno seemingly unable to extract anything more than what he’s currently getting out of his team and with their last win being on 8 November against Burnley, it’s hard to see where the next three points is coming from.
And posting to his X account midway through the first half of West Ham’s defeat to Wolves, Stan Collymore has made a bold prediction on what the future holds for Nuno.
The former player believes West Ham will sack him, whilst also predicting that Nottingham Forest to swing the axe on Sean Dyche, before forecasting a full circle moment, as he tips Nuno to be re-appointed at the City Ground.
Nuno was in charge at Forest from December 2023-September 2025, and helped guide the club to Premier League safety in 2023-24, before his side finished seventh last term in his only full season with the Reds.
Evangelos Marinakis surely won’t consider Nuno return
Given West Ham’s current predicament, it’s fair to assume that Nuno’s stock will be at an all-time low at this moment in time.
He’s got clubs such as Valencia, Tottenham and Porto on his CV, and the job he did with Nottingham Forest last season won’t be forgotten by clubs, but should West Ham axe him before he’s afforded any further time to salvage the situation along with his reputation, then he surely won’t fall immediately upwards.
- Nuno has now lost eight of his 14 Premier League matches in charge of West Ham
- West Ham’s next game is at home to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday
- West Ham have won seven points both at home and on the road this season
So long as Forest are above West Ham in the table, then re-joining them would have to be viewed as him doing exactly that, and so despite the fact that it’s far from a stable ship at Forest he would by proxy be walking into a better situation.
On top of that, there was also the debacle of Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis confronting Nuno on the City Ground pitch just before he was sacked, amid comments Nuno had made that detailed their deteriorating relationship.
Therefore, whilst it’s dangerous to rule anything out in football, it’s probably safe to say that Nuno wouldn’t be heading back to Forest if he is to be removed from the West Ham dugout.
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