On a frigid night in east London, the journey from Stratford tube station through the sleet-covered expanse of the Olympic Park to the often-criticized London Stadium felt particularly desolate this past Tuesday.

Reports suggested that as many as 15,000 tickets were put up for resale by disheartened West Ham United supporters. Inside the stadium, which once echoed with the cheers of Super Saturday, the numerous empty seats indicated that fans were treating this match as a dismal affair. Unfortunately, their fears were realized.

West Ham had not secured a victory since their win over Burnley on November 8. Their performance has been on a downward trajectory, and Tuesday night’s match against fellow relegation candidates Nottingham Forest was crucial. It was a chance to turn things around before they found themselves firmly entrenched among the league’s bottom three.

West Ham initially took the lead and believed they had doubled their advantage, only to have the second goal ruled out. In a cruel twist typical of football, Nottingham Forest equalized just a minute later, shifting the momentum in their favor and eventually clinching the win with a goal five minutes from the end.

This loss leaves West Ham seven points away from safety, casting doubt on manager Nuno’s future with the club. Without a win in ten matches and following a devastating 3-0 loss to bottom-ranked Wolves over the weekend, their situation appears dire.

Pressure has increased on Nuno Espirito Santo following West Ham’s defeat by Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night

Alphonse Areola fouled Morgan Gibbs-White to give away a penalty late on in the game

Morgan Gibbs-White scored the penalty to lodge a seven-point gap between the two sides in the fight for survival

The visiting Forest fans chanted, “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” at the West Ham manager, a harsh judgment considering his achievements last season. However, football is notoriously unforgiving, and Nuno faces the possibility of being dismissed for the second time in recent months.

When Nuno was asked before the game about its magnitude, he left little room for doubt. ‘It is a big one,’ he said. ‘It is huge. It is very important.’ To emphasise the message, Taty Castellanos, the Argentine forward signed for £26m from Lazio on Monday, was thrown straight into the team.

This was no time for procrastination. No time for indecision. Nuno knew West Ham were sliding and he knew the slide had to be arrested fast before the gap between the club and safety started to become too cavernous.

It didn’t start well for the home side. They were grateful for an acrobatic save from Alphonse Areola, who flung himself to his left to claw away a shot from Neco Williams that was spearing its way towards the top corner.

But Castellanos and Crysencio Summerville started brightly in attack and when West Ham won a corner after 13 minutes, they made it pay. Summerville bent the corner in from the left, Tomas Soucek flicked it on at the near post, and as he tried to head it clear, Murillo diverted it inadvertently past Matz Sels from close range.

The game, predictably, settled into rather an attritional, low-rent affair after that but Forest were so poor that they managed to make West Ham look actually rather competent. When the visitors did get forward, their delivery from wide was appalling. Most of their attacks foundered there.

For West Ham, Castellanos and Summerville looked sharp in attack, Mateus Fernandes was quickest to the ball in midfield and Jarrod Bowen looked too good for both teams, a fine talent marooned in a sea of mediocrity.

But four minutes from the interval, Forest came within inches of an equaliser. Callum Hudson-Odoi, who had been as quiet as a mouse, suddenly burst into life. He cut inside Kyle Walker-Peters, on to his right foot, and curled a right-foot shot out of the reach of Areola and crashing against the face of the bar.

West Ham are winless in 10 and their relegation fears have multiplied on the back of the match

It was a rare moment of hope for Forest, though, amidst their drudgery and five minutes after half time West Ham thought they had doubled their lead when Summerville rifled home from the edge of the area. Forest were reprieved by VAR, which found a Forest player had strayed offside in the build-up.

West Ham deserved a second but games can turn on such moments of fortune and a minute later, Forest were level. Elliot Anderson swung in a corner from the Forest left, Nicolas Dominguez flicked it on and the ball looped in a long, lazy arc towards to the far corner.

Walker-Peters was on the post but he seemed to mistime his jump and the ball bounced over the line. On the touchline, poor Nuno shook his head in despair at the cruelty of football life.

The mood of the game changed now. The stadium was even quieter than it had been before. Forest sensed a fear in West Ham that had not been before and pressed for a second goal. Their play was more confident and purposeful.

West Ham roused themselves in the closing stages and Sels saved in quick succession from Castellanos and Walker-Peters but then five minutes from the end Areola tried to punch clear a free-kick and flattened Morgan Gibbs-White instead. After consulting VAR, the referee awarded a penalty.

Gibbs-White took it. He hammered it down the middle, Areola dived to his right and the ball bulged the net. West Ham fans booed and groaned and got up to leave the stadium in their droves. It felt like the prophecy of a death foretold. It is going to be a long hard winter for West Ham and for Nuno, if he is allowed to oversee any more of it.