Review

Soucek's late winner edges West Ham past Forest in five-goal thriller

12 Nov 2023
Tomas Soucek

Hammers come from behind to earn first victory in five matches to move up to ninth

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A late Tomas Soucek header edged West Ham United past Nottingham Forest in a five-goal thriller, securing the Hammers a first win in five league matches to move them up to ninth in the table.

How the match unfolded

West Ham went in front in the third minute, with Lucas Paqueta latching on to a loose Nicolas Dominguez pass to power a low shot beyond Odysseas Vlachodimos into the bottom-right corner.

Forest responded well, with Taiwo Awoniyi seeing his header from close range superbly clawed wide by Alphonse Areola, who picked up the October Castrol Save of the Month award on Friday.

Awoniyi did level on 44 minutes, tapping in after Areola could only parry Morgan Gibbs-White's angled shot for the Nigerian's first Premier League goal since August.

Forest then went in front in the 63rd minute through Anthony Elanga.

Ola Aina's low cutback found the former Manchester United winger, who swept the ball into the bottom corner.

Their lead only lasted 123 seconds, however, with Jarrod Bowen heading in from James-Ward-Prowse's corner for his eighth goal of the season.

Soucek looped a header against the crossbar on 70 minutes, but the Czech wasn't to be denied with two minutes remaining.

He headed in powerfully from Ward-Prowse's corner to move the Hammers on to 17 points from 12 matches.

Forest, who have won only one of their last eight matches, drop to 15th on 13 points.

Did you know?

Nottingham Forest have the joint-fewest away league victories of any side in England’s top four tiers since the start of last season.

West Ham have won a Premier League match in which they conceded at least two goals for the first time since January 2022 away to Crystal Palace.

Since the start of the 2020/21 campaign, West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse has 17 dead-ball assists in the Premier League; the only other player in double figures during this period is Aaron Cresswell, with 10.

There were just 123 seconds between Anthony Elanga putting Nottingham Forest ahead and West Ham equalising through Jarrod Bowen.

Lucas Paqueta's goal was West Ham's earliest in a Premier League match since Angelo Ogbonna scored after 1 minute and 49 seconds against Aston Villa in November 2020.

In a run that started in May, Taiwo Awoniyi has scored six of Nottingham Forest’s last nine goals away from home in the Premier League.

Jarrod Bowen has scored nine goals across his last 14 matches in the Premier League for West Ham, as many as he had netted in his previous 47 appearances in the competition beforehand.

Tomas Soucek has scored 23 goals in the Premier League for West Ham; all 23 have been scored from inside the penalty area, with 11 of them coming from set-pieces.

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