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West Ham’s miserable Premier League campaign continued with a defeat at Leeds on Friday which ensured their worst start to a season for 52 years.

The result was their third consecuitve defeat under new manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who remains winless since replacing Graham Potter in September.

The Hammers, who sit 19th in the table, have recorded just one win this season and ironically it arrived against Nottingham Forest, when Nuno was in charge at the City Ground.

A dismal return of just four points in total represents West Ham’s joint-worst at this stage of a league campaign, with the club replicating that tally in the second tier in 1932-33 and 1973-74, when they finished bottom.

Having been appointed with the task of making sure West Ham don’t suffer a relegation that would leave them outside the top flight for the first time since 2011-12, Nuno, who took a point in his first match against Everton, is struggling to find answers.

“There is many problems in our club unfortunately. It is not up to us to hide ourselves behind the problems. Everyone has to be alive and to do much more and be in the right position,” said the Portuguese.

“We were not dealing with our defensive situations and I felt like we needed a striker to hold the ball, so maybe that’s not the greatest from me.

“These kind of mistakes are unacceptable in the Premier League.”

Nuno, also the first West Ham boss to fail to record a win from any of his first four Premier League games since Manuel Pellegrini in September 2018, added: “There is quality there, there is time, but nothing will happen if we don’t change.

“We must change our attitude, we must change the way we approach things, we must commit ourselves better, prepare better, work harder.

“All the things – that is the reality. We don’t expect things to change by themselves. Realising we have time can be a mistake if we don’t change things around quickly.”

These are troubling times for West Ham off the pitch too.

There were a large number of empty seats at London Stadium on Monday as some fans staged a boycott, staying away in protest against the running of the club.

While this was the first boycott, supporters have previously called for chairman David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady, who have been at West Ham since 2010, to step down.

Thousands of fans demonstrated before last month’s defeat by Crystal Palace and in response the club issued a lengthy statement,, external saying they were continuing “to listen to fan feedback”, have made “significant investment into the football operation” and “continue to do everything we can to improve the matchday experience”.

Payne was one of the fans who stayed away from the game for what he said was the first and the last time he will do so.

“There was a boycott but fans are not the problem, we are the solution waiting to be heard,” he said.

“It was a deliberate boycott to send a message to the owners that something has got to change.”

Payne said fan protests are solely aimed at the club’s owners, rather than the manager or players.

But Nuno’s decision to start with inverted full-backs against Brentford did raise some eyebrows.

“It’s unfair on Nuno and it’s unfair on the players as well,” Payne added.

“Nuno is a fantastic bloke, but I think he got his selections a bit skew-whiff last night by playing a young left-back – who has never played anywhere else – as right-back. Ollie Scarles, I felt sorry for him really.”

There were empty seats before West Ham took on Brentford in their London derby. And plenty during the game. And even more so as the game drew to a close.

The fans who were left booed their team off after a truly miserable 2-0 defeat that could easily have been 5-0.

These are toxic times at London Stadium, with some fans staying away in a protest against the running of the club.

New Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo – yet to win after three games – admits the players have to work hard to get the fans back onside.

There was no sugar-coating this performance by the head coach with his after-match verdict.

“Not good enough. Poor,” said the Portuguese, who was managing his first West Ham home game since replacing Graham Potter, after two away trips.

“Fairly Brentford won the game, they were the better team.

“I think we are all concerned. You can see our own fans are concerned. Concern becomes anxiety, becomes silence. That anxiety passes to the players. We have a problem.

“It’s understandable. It’s up to us to change. The fans need to see something that pleases them and they can support us and give us energy.

“I understand it, I understand it totally, and I respect it. It’s up to us, it’s up to us to change it. We are the people who have to pull the fans back together.”

West Ham remain 19th, with just four points from their opening eight games. They are in action in the next Premier League game too, visiting Leeds on Friday.

Nuno told BBC Sport: “It’s a challenge for all of us. It’s up to us to change the momentum and bring our fans back to support us. In four days’ time we need a big improvement.”

West Ham’s “main priority” is bringing the club’s fans and players closer together, says new manager Nuno Espirito Santo but he knows there is “a lot of work” to do.

After recent protests, chants of “sack the board” could be heard during Monday’s 1-1 draw at Everton, Nuno’s first game in charge of the Hammers after replacing Graham Potter.

But, after Jarrod Bowen’s second-half equaliser had earned them a spirited point, the former Tottenham and Nottingham Forest boss took his players over to the travelling supporters at the end of the match in a show of unity and togetherness.

“What I think is important is to appreciate what our fans did traveling to Liverpool on a Monday night and giving the support they’ve given,” he said. “It’s our main priority to come closer to our fans.

“We have to deliver so they can appreciate the work of the boys. Moving forward it’s important.”

After beginning his tenure with a point on the road, Nuno said his players will “embrace the challenge”.

“I think the team competed well,” the Portuguese manager said. “It’s a tough, tough place to come, a very good team.

“Overall it was a good game, intense, both teams had chances. The message for us [to the players] is how we can compete now.”

Nuno said he has avoided making too many changes to West Ham’s tactics and is instead focusing on making incremental improvements.

“Simple, don’t change too many things,” he responded when asked about his approach. “When you arrive at a club it’s about slowly progressing and trying to find the right options and solutions. Now it’s how we can improve them.”

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Potter joined West Ham refreshed and with his reputation intact, a highly regarded, measured individual who was in the Football Association’s post-Southgate calculations and who had also attracted the interest of Everton when they dismissed Sean Dyche.

He had risen steadily, a considered constructor of clubs and teams rather than a quick-fix problem solver that made him an ill fit for clubs as demanding – on and off the pitch – as Chelsea.

After waiting so long for what he believed was the right club for his managerial and coaching talents, Potter walked straight into a hole at West Ham.

He came to prominence at Ostersund in Sweden before being appointed manager of Swansea in June 2018, and his development and attractive playing style earned him a move to Brighton a year later.

Brighton was the perfect platform for Potter, home to patience and planning under owner Tony Bloom alongside technical director Dan Ashworth, with a smart recruitment team that uncovered gems such as midfielders Moises Caicedo and Alex Mac Allister.

Potter was at his best on the training ground, leading Brighton to ninth in the Premier League the season before he left, leaving them to join Chelsea when the Seagulls were fourth after winning four of their first six games, including an opening-weekend win at Manchester United.

He can point to leading Chelsea into the last eight of the Champions League while at Stamford Bridge, but – as at West Ham – Potter seemed at times to be overwhelmed by events before being consumed by a ruthless sacking.

Potter’s downfall has come from joining two clubs with polar opposite approaches to Brighton, where Bloom never lost faith even after an early run of only two wins in 19 games. Potter had the trust and faith of the hierarchy in a manner which has never been replicated since.

Former England defender Martin Keown told the BBC: “Potter was at Chelsea not so long ago. He could have been an England manager.

“Now you look at his career and his win percentage at Chelsea and West Ham. His next job now in the Premier League, if he gets one, is really very important for him.”

Potter has not actually dealt in high win percentages throughout his Premier League career.

In 120 games at Brighton he won 34 and lost 42, with a 28% winning ratio. At Chelsea it was 32%, with seven wins, while at West Ham he won six games or 26%.

Potter’s strength as a coach was always organisation and tactical discipline, yet he even looked lost in this context at West Ham, especially at set-pieces.

Keown said: “I watched them play Spurs a couple of weeks ago and you saw the set-pieces.

“They have conceded seven goals from set-pieces this season. It looked like a set of schoolboys out there – no real direction. Eventually that has to come back to the manager.”

The usually calm Potter exterior was replaced by a personality who looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders as a second high-profile Premier League failure unfolded.

Where Potter goes next is purely guesswork.

The continent may call, where he could find a set-up that suits him, but the notion of a big Premier League post is fanciful in the extreme.

Potter’s ending at West Ham caps a spectacular fall from grace from the territory where he was once a live contender in the conversation of those with the qualities befitting an England manager.

West Ham have appointed former Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo as head coach after sacking Graham Potter.

Nuno, 51, has signed a three-year contract with the Hammers and will take charge of his first match on Monday away at Everton in the Premier League.

Potter was dismissed on Saturday morning after only eight months in charge, with the club 19th in the table.

Nuno joins West Ham after being sacked on 9 September by Forest, who he guided to seventh in the Premier League last season – their highest finish since 1994-95.

“I am very pleased to be here and very proud to be representing West Ham United,” he said.

“My objective is to work hard to get the very best from the team and ensure that we are as competitive as we possibly can be. The work has already started and I am looking forward to the challenge that is ahead.”

Nuno joins West Ham shortly after a 21-month stint at the City Ground, where he was sacked only three games into this season.

He took his first training session in east London on Saturday afternoon before the club’s match at Everton on Monday.

West Ham said Nuno will be assisted in the interim by academy coaches Mark Robson, Steve Potts, Gerard Prenderville and Billy Lepine, with a further announcement on his coaching and backroom staff to be made in due course.

The Hammers took only three points from their opening five league games this season under Potter.

After dismissing the 50-year-old, West Ham said they believed “a change is necessary in order to help improve the team’s position in the Premier League as soon as possible”.

They added: “Results and performances over the course of the second half of last season and the start of the 2025-26 season have not matched expectations.”

In a statement via the League Managers Association, Potter said: “I am incredibly disappointed to be leaving West Ham, particularly without being able to achieve what we set out to achieve at the start of our journey in east London.

“I do, however, fully acknowledge that the results have just not been good enough up to now.”

Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Palace was West Ham’s fifth in six league and cup games this season.

Potter replaced Spaniard Julen Lopetegui, who was sacked in January after six months in charge, with the Hammers 14th in the table.

“It’s a proud day to be head coach of this amazing club – big tradition, big history, big expectations, big challenge,” Potter said when he was appointed on 9 January.

But the former Chelsea and Brighton boss found wins difficult to come by.

West Ham, who sold Ghana forward Mohammed Kudus to Tottenham for £55m in July, spent £126m on eight new arrivals in the summer, including the £38m purchase of Portuguese midfielder Mateus Fernandes from Southampton in August.

But losses to Sunderland, Chelsea, Tottenham and Palace have left the club in the bottom three. They also went out of the Carabao Cup in the second round with a 3-2 defeat by fellow strugglers Wolves.

That led to West Ham issuing a statement acknowledging “results and performances on the pitch over the past two seasons have not met the standards we set for ourselves”.

Disgruntled fans staged a demonstration against the club’s board before the Palace match, and the owners have reacted by dismissing Potter.

Poor results on the pitch led to Potter becoming a viral trend on social media, with people using AI technology to swap his face on to other celebrities, including Barbie, US President Donald Trump and the Chuckle Brothers.

Speaking on Friday, Potter said he had not been taking it too seriously.

“It made my 15-year-old son laugh a lot so you have to accept what comes with it [the job],” he said.

“At times [that is] ridicule but that is just the environment we are in and it is what it is.”

BBC Sport’s chief football news reporter Simon Stone:

Even when they are being subjected to the kind of criticism they are getting at the moment, West Ham’s ownership tend not to go in for knee-jerk reactions when it comes to dealing with managers.

Chairman David Sullivan is more likely to give someone a game or two extra rather than act when there is still a possibility the situation might be pulled round.

Clearly though, heavy home defeats by two of the club’s fiercest rivals and slipping into the bottom three is not a good look, especially when Potter’s appointment last season failed to trigger the improvement hoped for.

If there is a slight positive as far as Potter is concerned, it comes from knowing we are still incredibly early into the new season.

Julen Lopetegui collected only five points from his first six Premier League games in charge last season and it was January before he was sacked. In 2022-23, West Ham collected five points from seven games with David Moyes in charge.

The secondary point is that West Ham made four signings between 29 August and the transfer deadline closing two days later. Given there was an international break in between, how much time has Potter had to work with his new-look squad?

Next week, unbeaten Crystal Palace visit London Stadium for a game where huge demonstrations against the ownership are planned. If that game doesn’t go well, a tense atmosphere could turn toxic.

After that it’s a trip to Merseyside and a meeting with Moyes’ improving Everton before a trip to Arsenal, where West Ham have won on their past two visits, including under Potter in February.

That feels a more obvious time to reassess, even if many West Ham fans feel getting rid of the manager is only the start of the change they really want.

Watch Premier League highlights, as late goals from Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Callum Wilson help West Ham beat Nottingham Forest at The City Ground for their first win of the season.

MATCH REPORT: Nottingham Forest 0 – 3 West Ham

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West Ham have signed midfielder Mateus Fernandes from Southampton in a deal worth more than £40m.

The 21-year-old Portuguese joins on a five-year contract and becomes West Ham’s third-biggest signing, behind Sebastien Haller (£45m) and Lucas Paqueta (£51m).

Fernandes moved to Southampton from Sporting for £15m in 2024, so the Saints have made a substantial profit after one year.

He made 46 appearances for Southampton, scoring four goals and providing seven assists.

“I’m very excited to play for West Ham,” said Fernandes.

“I think it’s a big step for me. It’s a big club, a massive club. The project, the stadium, the city, everything.”

The move should be a boost for under-pressure Hammers manager Graham Potter, whose side have lost their first three matches of the season in all competitions.

They were beaten 3-0 by newly-promoted Sunderland in their first Premier League outing before being thrashed 5-1 by Chelsea, and lost to Wolves in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

West Ham are also close to completing the signing of Monaco midfielder Soungoutou Magassa, 21, for a fee of about £17.3m.

Football Focus’s Chris Sutton, Glen Murray and Alex Scott discuss the issues Graham Potter is facing at West Ham after they lost their opening two Premier League games of the new season, conceding eight goals.

WATCH MORE: West Ham booed as Chelsea score five in convincing win

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It is of course very early to suggest that a relegation battle beckons for West Ham this season, but there’s no doubt it is a significant concern for many of their supporters right now.

With one goal scored and eight conceded, they are currently showing that worrying combination of struggling to score and letting in plenty, which does not bode well for aspirations of avoiding a season of struggle.

Up next is a trip to Nottingham Forest, before successive London derbies against Tottenham and Crystal Palace – all three tricky games in which West Ham will need to show considerable improvement from what they have so far.

Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie Redknapp said on Sky Sports: “If I’m Sunderland, Burnley, Leeds, I’m looking at West Ham and thinking, ‘they’re the ones, they’re the weakest team in the Premier League we’re going to catch’.

“That squad isn’t good enough. They haven’t got enough good players. That midfield just couldn’t get near, they didn’t have the legs to get around. They need to get someone with real legs.”

New faces can revitalise a squad low on confidence, but Potter did not suggest there will be many incomings before the transfer window closes on 1 September.

“I think it would be a bit obtuse of me to speak about signings when clearly we have to improve and do better with what we have,” he admitted.

“We need to do more than we are as a group and as always we will look to strengthen while the window is open.”

Potter knows he is under pressure, and how these next few weeks pan out – both in terms of results on the pitch and business in the transfer market – will have a big say on his future.

“You’re under pressure all the time in these jobs, in this situation, that’s how it is,” he added.

“I know the territory, I know what comes with poor results and I accept my responsibility.”

“He builds a special relationship with players and they understand where he’s coming from.

“He has a modern mindset and all of those things mean it does take some time to put a team together, to get the team playing the way that you want.

“West Ham is not a club that panics about its managers. We tend to stick with them, tend to support people, stick with them and see it through.

“I really hope he does well. He’s a pleasure to work with, he’s incredibly professional.

“I know his relationship with the players is good. I know he’ll be sitting down with them today to have a long, hard think about what went wrong yesterday, expecting a reaction and expecting to put it right.”

Potter gave full debuts to Senegal full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf, a £19m signing from Slavia Prague, and Denmark goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, who joined for £20m from Leicester.

Striker Callum Wilson also made his debut as a substitute following his arrival from Newcastle, while another free transfer, Kyle Walker-Peters, remained on the bench.

West Ham have yet to bring in a direct replacement for Ghana midfielder Mohammed Kudus, who joined Tottenham for £55m.

They performed well in the first half and went close through Jarrod Bowen and Diouf, but faded badly after Eliezer Mayenda’s 61st-minute opener, conceding twice more in the final 17 minutes.

“I wish yesterday could start all over again,” added Brady. “It’s so tough to take. It’s never easy for the supporters, the players, or the manager to lose 3-0, particularly in the opening game of the season.

“I spent a lot of time with the manager and the squad in America on the pre-season tour. The spirit among them is fantastic. I know that they’ll be more disappointed, that they’ll be the most disappointed people this morning.

“I know we’ll see a reaction and I know they want to turn it around and they’ll want to turn it around quickly.”

Match of the Day pundit Wayne Rooney explains why Sunderland’s ability to sit deep and hit teams on the counter attack could be the key for the newly promoted side to avoid relegation, after their first match back in England’s top flight ended in a 3-0 win over West Ham at the Stadium of Light.

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Grimsby Town vs Manchester United

West Ham have signed Leicester City goalkeeper Mads Hermansen for around £20m.

The Denmark international has agreed a five-year deal with the Hammers with a one-year option, after a fee was agreed on Thursday following several weeks of talks between the clubs.

The 25-year-old impressed for Leicester last season, despite their relegation from the Premier League.

West Ham were looking for a new goalkeeper after Poland’s Lukasz Fabianski left at the end of last season and Hermansen will compete with Alphonse Areola, 32, who played 26 times in the Premier League in 2024-25.

Casper Ankergren, who worked with Hermansen at Brondby, is West Ham’s goalkeeping coach under manager Graham Potter.

Hermansen made 72 appearances for Leicester, winning the Championship title in 2024.

He follows Wilfred Ndidi in leaving the Foxes after the midfielder joined Turkish side Besiktas on Friday having spent eight-and-a-half years at the King Power Stadium.

Ndidi had a relegation release clause of £9m.

Swansea City are closing in on the loan signing of West Ham United defender Kaelan Casey.

The 20-year-old Hammers academy product has made two substitute appearances in the Premier League, but will head out on loan in search of first-team experience.

Casey could well make his Swansea debut in their Championship opener at Middlesbrough next Saturday, with Alan Sheehan short of options as things stand.

Club captain Ben Cabango is doubtful for the Boro trip having been troubled by a calf injury during pre-season.

Fellow centre-back Ricardo Santos is also sidelined by injury, as is youngster Filip Lissah.

Cameron Burgess, another of Swansea’s summer recruits, is Sheehan’s only fit senior centre-back at present, with under-21 player Arthur Parker and midfielder Jay Fulton used at the heart of defence at times during pre-season.

Swansea are still looking for a number of new signings following a raft of summer departures, with a striker another top priority following the exits of Jerry Yates and Florian Bianchini last week.