West Ham boss Espirito Santo on double injury concern, possible new signings and his future

Nuno Espirito Santo says Jean-Clair Todibo and Lucas Paqueta both remain as doubts for the game against Nottingham Forest.

The Hammers take on Espirito Santo’s former club at the London Stadium on Tuesday night with the chance to move within a point of their 17th placed rivals.

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Todibo and Paqueta both missed the 3-0 defeat to bottom club Wolves but Espirito Santo says they are working hard to be involved.

“We have to assess both of them, JC and Lucas,” he said.

“They are trying hard to be involved, painful situations. We still have tomorrow to see how they are and seen if they can be involved in the squad.”

The Hammers have added two new forwards to their squad ahead of the game, completing the signings of strikers Pablo from Gil Vicente and Taty Castellanos from Lazio.

But Espirito Santo says they still need more signings this month.

“Now we are in the moment of rebalancing our squad,” he said.

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“Two players came in, Taty and Pablo, who I consider good options, players that can help, and that’s the word. We need help from those that are coming but we are the ones that have to improve and make the situation better.

“The club is working really hard to operate in this transfer window. Like I said, two bodies in, but we still need more. We still need more.

“It’s not only about the offensive line, we still need to rebalance our squad.”

On his two new additions, Espirito Santo said: “Two players that I really believe can bring new things to the team. We had many names and Pablo and Taty were the ones that I personally consider can create an impact.

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“It’s the transfer window that we have and we have to try to make it right. Players that come with a purpose, players that come with the intention to really help and be brave to join us in this situation.

“Taty and Pablo come with a purpose.”

The pressure continues to mount on Espirito Santo with West Ham four points adrift of safety, but he says he is not focused on “speculation” around his future.

“Look, I’ve been around a long time and my focus is not on that, on speculation,” he insisted. “No. How can I help my players? How can I make them better? How can we solve and improve the situation at West Ham? It’s about everybody.

“We have to apologise to the fans but they know the squad, the team, they know football, they know the game. They know that we need them.”