WEST HAM 1 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 2

SO it's a cup final, to all intents, at the City Ground next Sunday.

- BY MIKE WALTERS

Nottingham Forest still do not know whether their return to European orbit will take them to the San Siro in the Champions League or Smorgasbord Rovers for Thursday Night detention.

But they dug deep to chisel out a precious win at the Taxpayers Stadium, and victory against top-five rivals Chelsea on the last day of term may be enough for a place back among the elite.

With striker Taiwo Awoniyi still in hospital, after being placed in an induced coma and undergoing emergency surgery on a ruptured intestine following his horror injury against Leicester, Forest inflicted a ninth home defeat of the season on West Ham.

One goal was a gift, the other took an eternity for VAR to ratify - but head coach Nuno Espirito Santo did not care.

At 112min 55sec it was the second-longest Premier League game this season. It felt like it would never end.

Morgan Gibbs-White had already seen one chance parried by Alphonse Areola before the Forest skipper had better luck after 11 minutes, seizing on the Hammers keeper's dreadful pass intended for Guido Rodriguez and accepting the charitable donation with ease.