Ola Aina believes an earlier offside flag could have seen Taiwo Awoniyi avoid his serious injury in Nottingham Forest's draw last weekend.

Awoniyi collided with the post towards the end of Forest’s 2-2 draw with Leicester City, and though he finished the game after lengthy treatment, he then had to undergo "urgent" surgery on an abdominal injury.

Anthony Elanga had strayed offside in the build-up to the chance, but the flag did not go up until after Awoniyi had sustained the injury due to the offside protocol.

Awoniyi reportedly suffered a ruptured intestine and had to be placed in a medically induced coma, which he has now been brought out of.

And Aina, also an international team-mate of Awoniyi, questioned the need for such a late flag when the offside is more obvious.

"Anthony was miles offside. The whole world could see and so could I from where I was," Aina told the Daily Mail.

"You think 'offside' straight away. Surely you could just lift the flag up? None of this would have happened to 'T' if the flag had just gone up, would it?

"It's horrible seeing someone you are close with go through something like this, but I pray to God everything goes to plan and goes well and that we will be hearing from him soon."

Forest are still chasing Champions League qualification but, having failed to win any of their last five outings in the top-flight, they have slipped to seventh, though are just one point behind fifth at the start of the weekend.

They face a West Ham side who earned their first win since February last time out against Manchester United to move up to 15th in the table.

It ended a run of 10 without a victory in the Premier League, and though there is nothing left to play for, Max Kilman is determined to end the season on a high.

"We've got two more games where we can really end the season on a high," Kilman told West Ham TV. "I think these are important to really build on for next season.

"I think finishing the season strong is always important coming into the next season, so I think that's our aim and that's definitely the target for us."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

West Ham – Jarrod Bowen

Jarrod Bowen has been involved in six goals in his last six Premier League games (four goals, two assists), scoring in each of his last three at the London Stadium.

The last Hammers player to score in four consecutive home league games was Jesse Lingard in April 2021.

Nottingham Forest – Chris Wood

Against no side has Chris Wood scored more Premier League goals than he has vs West Ham (eight).

However, six of these eight strikes came in his first five games against the Hammers, netting just two in his last eight.

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

West Ham have won five of their six Premier League home games against Nottingham Forest, with the exception being a 1-0 defeat in January 1997.

However, Forest have won their last two league games against West Ham and are looking to complete their first league double over the Hammers since 1983-84.

West Ham won 2-0 at Man Utd last time out, only once this season winning consecutive Premier League games (v Arsenal and Leicester City in February). Their last three at home have all finished level, with the Hammers last drawing four consecutive top-flight home games in April 1985.

Forest have won just one of their last six Premier League games (D2 L3), a run that has seen them slip from third to seventh in the table.

West Ham have not lost their final home league game in any of the last seven campaigns (W5 D2), while Forest, who beat Burnley 2-1 last season, have not won their final away league game in consecutive campaigns since 2006-07 and 2007-08, when they were in League One.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

West Ham – 35.3%

Draw – 27.2%

Nottingham Forest – 37.5%