Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham United
Premier League, City Ground, Sunday 31 August 2025, 2pm BST
West Ham United recorded their first Premier League victory at the City Ground since 1996 with a stunning 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.
Captain Jarrod Bowen did the damage again, with our No20 turning in a Crysencio Summerville delivery with six minutes remaining, and then on 88 minutes, his fellow attacker Lucas Paquetá showed his cool, calm composure by drilling a spot-kick past Mats Sels.
Callum Wilson stepped off the bench to put the seal on proceedings in stoppage time and register his first goal for the Club in what were late, late heroics in the East Midlands.
More importantly, the result saw us earn our first points of the 2025/26 campaign, and saw new Portuguese midfielder Mateus Fernandes impress on debut.
Before kick-off, all sides of the City Ground paid respect to former Wales and Reds defender Terry Hennessey, with fans, players and staff of both Forest and West Ham joining together for a moment of applause.
As the game kicked off, with Head Coach Graham Potter starting a very attacking formation, Fernandes was the centre of attention in midfield, having pushed up as part of a four-man attack, while Paquetá, Bowen and Niclas Füllkrug looked to provide attacking impetus against the Reds.
The Hammers started positively, and that led to the visitors having great early sights of goal - Dinos Mavropanos headed over a James Ward-Prowse corner from just a couple of yards out, and Füllkrug did likewise ten minutes later as Forest struggled to handle our set-piece threat.
Twenty minutes had passed when Nuno Espírito Santo’s side threatened for the first time.
They won a series of corners with Morgan Gibbs-White off-target with a flicked header, and when Callum Hudson-Odoi was felled in the box on 22 minutes, the City Ground screamed for a penalty, but referee Craig Pawson waved appeals away, a decision backed up by VAR James Bell.
With the game crying out for a spark of inspiration, if anyone was going to create something, it was Fernandes, who ran the channels, held the ball up and picked out pockets of space in front of the Forest back-line.
From one such passage of play arrived West Ham’s best moment in the opening period, when our Portuguese No18 charged down the left flank, as he skipped beyond Ola Aina and pulled the ball back for Paquetá on the edge of the box, and his wonderful curling effort needed to be tipped over at full stretch by Sels.
And that was about it for the first half. Chances were few and far between at either end, despite our dominance, but the Hammers looked much more potent in what was a solid performance in the opening 45.
The second half, however, was the polar opposite and began at a swift pace with both sides working opportunities during the opening minutes.
Chris Wood first saw a header from close range easily saved by Mads Hermansen, while at the other end, in response, the visitors fashioned the best chance of the initial exchanges.
Bowen drove forward and delivered a low cross into the area, where Paquetá burst onto the ball and fired millimetres wide of Sels’ near post with his right foot, before Füllkrug forced Sels into a plunging one-handed save with a powerful angled drive.
At the other end, the home side were now full of confidence, though, with Gibbs-White and Hudson-Odoi firing straight at Hermansen between the sticks.
Potter looked to shuffle his pack as the hour mark passed, bringing on the experienced Wilson in place of Füllkrug with the game crying out for a goal.
Our No9 almost provided it, surging onto the loose ball, and then firing the ball towards the top corner that forced a remarkable reaction save from Sels.
As the clock ticked towards 90, it looked like it was going to be a case of one point instead of three for the visitors.
But as is so often the case, Bowen was in the right position inside the area to nudge home a Summerville - who had been introduced from the substitutes’ bench two minutes prior - cut-back to send the away end wild, and just as you wondered if the decisive second would come, it was Paquetá who produced with a well-taken penalty that left Sels with no chance on 88 minutes, after Summerville was felled by Ibrahim Sangaré.
And it got better for Potter’s men as Wilson - a constant threat since his introduction - sealed the three points by adding the finishing touch to a counter after latching onto a cross from El Hadji Malick Diouf.
That was game, set and match, and Bowen almost added a fourth deep into second-half stoppage time, but Sels got down well to parry wide.
After nine minutes of additional time, Pawson’s whistle marked the Hammers’ first win at the City Ground since 1996, with players and staff coming together to celebrate with a joyous away end whose loyalty and commitment had been rewarded.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Aina, Murillo, Milenković, Williams, Sangaré (Kalimuendo 89), Anderson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi (Hutchinson 89), Ndoye (McAtee 58), Wood (Jesus 73)
Subs not used: Gunn (GK), Morato, Boly, Luiz, Yates
West Ham United: Hermansen, Walker-Peters, Mavropanos, Kilman, Diouf, Fernandes (Summerville 82), Ward-Prowse (Irving 75), Souček, Paquetá, Bowen ©, Füllkrug (Wilson 64)
Subs not used: Areola (GK), Wan-Bissaka, Scarles, Todibo, Potts, Rodríguez
Goals: Bowen 84, Paquetá 88, Wilson 90+1
Referee: Craig Pawson
Attendance: 30,215
