Nuno looks on anxiously during West Ham’s 2-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night Ben Stansall/Getty Images
Nuno Espirito Santo said he expects to be backed by West Ham’s board despite the club slipping seven points adrift of safety after a 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The crisis engulfing the east London club intensified after a fifth loss in six Premier League matches to the team just above them in the table.
West Ham had taken the lead through Murillo’s own goal and then saw Crysencio Summerville denied a second by a tight offside VAR call early in the second half.
That proved decisive, as Forest hit back to equalise with Nicolas Dominguez’s looping header before Morgan Gibbs-White converted a late penalty — awarded after goalkeeper Alphonse Areola had collided with the midfielder in the area — for the winner.
West Ham’s dreadful form has brought Nuno’s own position under scrutiny but the Portuguese insists he expects to retain the backing of his employers.
Asked by Sky Sports whether he expected support from the West Ham board, he said: “Of course, we have to be in this together.
“I’ll keep on going, keep believing, keep working with the boys to realise this is part of the game sometimes.
“You have good moments, sometimes you have bad moments, but we have to be resilient enough to understand the situation. I’ll make sure my boys believe it also.”
The West Ham game — the club’s 10th in a row without a victory — was also played out to thousands of empty seats as fans opted to stay away from the London Stadium. But Nuno has pleaded with supporters not to give up on their team, despite their precarious position.
“I understand the fans,” Nuno said in his post-match press conference. “They know the game, the team and the problems that we have. I totally understand their frustration and sadness. But I must ask them to keep helping us because when the boys do things properly, they give us back.
“It’s not over. There’s a lot of football to be played. It’s a seven points gap and everybody will naturally rule us out. But we don’t allow this feeling to go inside of the dressing room.”