WEST HAM contrived to lose this relegation battle against Nottingham Forest under the lights at the London Stadium.

Dominating for much of the game, West Ham failed to build on their early lead.

This came when an in-swinging corner was headed on by Tomas Soucek, then on into his own net by Murillo.

The visitors had two good efforts in the first half, a dipping Neco Williams shot, pushed over by Alphonse Areola. Then, a Callum Hudson-Odoi shot that rocked back off the bar.

It looked as though West Ham had extended their lead in the second half, when a Kyle Walker-Peters shot rebounded to Crysencio Summerville who fired home from the edge of the area.

The goal was then disallowed, after a VAR check. Debutant Taty Castellanos was adjudged to have a heel over the line making him offside. Quite how this impacted the passage of play that led to the goal was unclear.

West Ham then conceded another soft goal. An Elliot Anderson corner was back headed by Nicolas Dominguez, looping over Walker-Peters, supposedly defending the far post, into the goal.

The winner came out of the blue. A ball sent into a clutch of players was eventually cleared by Ezra Mayers but amazingly a VAR check ruled keeper Areola had committed a foul in jumping for the ball. Morgan Gibbs-White duly converted the resulting penalty.

West Ham head coach, Nuno Espirito Santo was dumfounded by the penalty decision. As someone who had played as a goalkeeper, he felt the decision should not have been given.

West Ham are now seven points behind Nottingham Forest and look cut adrift.

“It is a big gap but it’s not over,” said Espirito Santo. “We need a good run — it’s about how we react.”

So, another bad night for West Ham, for whom little seems to be going right at the moment.