West Ham vs. Nottingham Forest Match Preview

 

Today’s flashback highlights a 2-1 home victory over tomorrow’s opponents, Nottingham Forest, on Christmas Day 1956, in front of 16,300 fans. ‘Just Walkin’ In The Rain’ by Johnnie Ray reached number one, and The Battle of the River Plate was in theaters in the United Kingdom. While British and French soldiers had withdrew from Suez under United Nations and US pressure two days earlier, PG Tips debuted its long-running advertising campaign with a chimp tea party, with voices provided by Peter Sellers.

23-year-old left winger Both Malcolm Musgrove (shown below) and centre-forward Eddie Lewis scored as Ted Fenton’s Hammers won 2-1 at Upton Park in their Second Division Christmas encounter. Musgrove, who was born in Northumberland, finished the season as the joint-second leading scorer, with 12 goals in 44 games. Between 1954 and 1962, he scored 100 goals in 317 games for West Ham United before becoming player-coach at Leyton Orient.

He later managed Torquay and Exeter, following a stint in the United States as manager of Connecticut Bicentennials and Chicago Sting. He retired in 1998 and returned to Torquay with his wife, Jean, to be closer to their three children and grandchildren. Malcolm Musgrove died on September 14, 2007, at the age of 74, following a long struggle with Alzheimer’s.

In 1956/57, the Hammers finished eighth, while Billy Walker’s Nottingham Forest finished second and were promoted to the First Division. With 13 goals in 41 games, inside-left John Dick finished the season as the Irons’ top goalscorer. The Second Division was won by Leicester, the First Division by Manchester United, and the FA Cup was won by Aston Villa.

West Ham United’s starting XI: Bob Wyllie, John Bond, Noel Cantwell, Andy Malcolm, Malcolm Allison, Bill Lansdowne, Billy Dare, John Smith, Eddie Lewis, John Dick, and Malcolm Musgrove.

Cheikhou Kouyate returns to his former club, while Michail Antonio is welcomed back. Others who have played for both clubs are:

Andy Melville, Charlie Craig, Danny Collins, Gary Charles, Paul Konchesky, Sam Byram, Carl Jenkinson, Elliott Ward, Matthew Upson, and Colin Foster are among the defenders.

Andy Impey, Chris Cohen, Andre Ayew, Fred Wallbanks, Nigel Quashie, Carl Fletcher, Hugo Porfirio, Jesse Lingard, John Harkes, Franz Carr, and Adam Nowland are the midfielders.

Justin Fashanu, Xande Silva, Jim Barrett Junior, Ian Wright, Albert Carnelly, Syd Sugden, Marlon Harewood, Ian Moore, Teddy Sheringham, Lee Chapman, Sam Jennings are the strikers for the club.

Chris Hughton, an ex-Hammer, has also managed Nottingham Forest. Stuart Pearce has played for both clubs, managed Nottingham Forest twice, and served on the Hammers’ coaching staff twice.

Today’s spotlight is on a midfielder who spent time on loan at West Ham United before joining Nottingham Forest. Henri Lansbury was born on October 12, 1990, in Enfield, and joined Arsenal as a schoolboy. He made his Arsenal debut in October 2007 at the age of 17; he joined Scunthorpe on loan in January 2009 and won the FA Youth Cup with Arsenal at the end of the 2008/09 season. Lansbury, who has represented England at the Under-16, Under-17, Under-19, and Under-21 levels, finished runner-up with his country at the Under-19 European Championships in 2009. He was on loan at Watford in 2009/10 and Norwich in 2010/11, helping the latter achieve promotion to the Premier League.

Lansbury, 20, joined Sam Allardyce’s relegated West Ham United on loan for the 2011/12 season. On September 10, 2011, he made his debut against Portsmouth at the Boleyn Ground, scoring in a 4-3 triumph. A knee ligament injury held the central midfielder out of the starting lineup from late October to mid-December, and he struggled to find a starting berth owing to the form of Mark Noble, Jack Collison, and Kevin Nolan.

Lansbury came on as an emergency goalkeeper in a 4-1 win over Blackpool on February 21, 2012, replacing Julien Faubert after Robert Green was sent off with the Hammers leading 2-1. The red card was eventually overruled, but Lansbury admirably kept a clean sheet in his 35 minutes between the posts. Lansbury made his final appearance in a Hammers shirt as a substitute in the 3-0 Play-out Semi-Final second leg triumph against Cardiff at Upton Park on May 7, 2012 – a brilliant passer of the ball, he capped out his loan term with an assist for Nicky Maynard. Lansbury had made 24 appearances for West Ham United, scoring once. You can see his only goal for the Hammers in the video below.

Lansbury returned to Arsenal after his loan ended but was soon back in the Championship, signing for Sean O’Driscoll’s Nottingham Forest in a permanent deal for a fee believed to be in excess of £1m in the summer of 2012 – he made his debut in a 2-1 defeat at Leeds on 22nd September 2012 and scored his first goal for the club in a 6-1 win over Huddersfield at the City Ground on 19th February 2013, by which time Alex McLeish had taken over as manager.

In his debut season, he scored five goals in 32 appearances, including a double in a 3-1 home win over Wolves on March 9th – these goals came under yet another change manager, Billy Davies, with Forest finishing eighth in the Championship.

Lansbury started the 2013/14 season by scoring the game’s only goal against Huddersfield at the City Ground on August 3, 2013. He went on to score seven goals in 30 games for the Tricky Trees, including braces in 3-1 victories over Brighton in October and Blackburn at home in January. Lansbury also set up the third goal in Nottingham Forest’s 5-0 destruction of a young West Ham side in the FA Cup third round.

On August 3, 2013, Lansbury opened the 2013/14 season by scoring the game’s only goal against Huddersfield at the City Ground. He went on to net seven goals in 30 appearances for the Tricky Trees, including braces in 3-1 wins over Brighton in October and Blackburn at home in January. Lansbury also set up the third goal in Nottingham Forest’s 5-0 FA Cup third-round victory over a young West Ham team.

Nottingham Forest finished 16th in the 2015/16 season, with Lansbury scoring four goals in 29 games and remaining captain. He was sent off in a 1-1 home draw with Burnley in October, but he scored twice at Fulham for the second season in a row, with the Reds winning 3-1 at Craven Cottage in April 2016, while Paul Williams was in caretaker charge following Freedman’s dismissal the month before. Lansbury recently revealed that he beat testicular cancer while playing for Nottingham Forest in 2016.

Philippe Montanier took over as manager in 2016/17, with Lansbury scoring six goals in 19 games in the first half of the season. On November 25, 2016, he scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Barnsley, his final goals in a Forest shirt. On December 2, 2016, the midfielder played his farewell game for the Tricky Trees, a 2-1 home triumph over Newcastle. Lansbury, 26, signed for Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa in January 2017 after scoring 33 goals in 150 appearances over his four-and-a-half seasons at the City Ground.

Lansbury struggled to gain consistent game time when Dean Smith took over as manager in October 2018, appearing in only five games as Villa achieved promotion in 2018/19. Lansbury returned to the Premier League for the first time since leaving Arsenal in 2019/20, making two Premier League starts, but his only appearances the following season came in the League Cup before joining Bristol City on a free transfer in January 2021.

Lansbury joined Luton Town in May 2021 and stayed until the summer of 2023. Lansbury, who turned 33 last month, announced his retirement from the game in August.

Michael Salisbury, from Preston, will officiate his second match involving West Ham United on Sunday. He has refereed seven games this season, four in the Premier League and three in the League Cup, as the son of former referee Graham Salisbury. In the seven games, he issued 15 yellow cards, no reds, and two penalties.

Salisbury’s only previous experience with the Hammers was a 3-1 FA Cup fifth-round defeat at Manchester United in March of this year.

Kurt Zouma is in doubt for West Ham United. Jarrod Bowen has been directly involved in ten Premier League goals in his previous 12 Premier League starts, scoring eight and assisting two, but he has only scored once at home in the top level in 2023/24.

Nottingham Forest are missing centre-back Felipe as well as winger Callum Hudson-Odoi. Right-back Gonzalo Montiel, as well as attackers Chris Wood and Divock Origi, are also in doubt. The Reds are eight points ahead of where they were at this point last season, having scored five more goals and conceded eight less. Forest haven’t beaten West Ham away in any competition since January 1, 1997, when Kevin Campbell scored the only goal at Upton Park.

West Ham United possible starting XI: Areola; Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson; Soucek, Ward-Prowse; Kudus, Paqueta, Benrahma; Bowen.

Vlachodimos; Niakhate, Worrall, Murillo; Aurier, Sangare, Mangala, Toffolo; Gibbs-White, Elanga; Awoniyi; Gibbs-White, Elanga; Awoniyi.