So, for the second time in four days, Nuno Espirito Santo should be assured of a fine reception from the fans. Even if, once again, they are not the West Ham fans. If Nuno derbies come in pairs, they also get bigger. West Ham’s 3-0 defeat to a previously winless Wolverhampton Wanderers side means his first reunion with Nottingham Forest could assume fatal consequences: for him, and for West Ham’s chances of retaining top-flight football.
Lose to Forest and they would be seven points from safety. Lose, too, and Nuno may have the rare distinction of managing two clubs in a season when each has three managers. Forest had got there by the end of October. Their return of no points from the four festive fixtures is actually one fewer than West Ham’s: yet Sean Dyche, appointed in part for supposed similarities to Nuno, is closer to safety. For Nuno, the manager whose feats in taking both Wolves and Forest to seventh, their highest finish in decades, guarantee him popularity in corners of the West and East Midlands, 17th would look an achievement now.
