Crysencio Summerville's seventh goal in his last 10 outings proved decisive, with his strike helping the Hammers move level on points with 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.

Indeed, West Ham has won four of its last eight top-flight games (D2 L2), one more than it managed across its first 21 matches this season (W3 D5 L13).  

West Ham now turns its attention to Brentford in the fifth round of the FA Cup before facing Manchester City in its next league game, and Nuno believes there is reason for optimism at the club. 

"We are improving game by game," Nuno said. "It can happen, games like Liverpool, but the confidence is there.

"The boys are working very hard, very committed, knowing that the situation that we are [in] doesn't change anything. We are focused on ourselves and keep going.

"We fight until the end, and it means a lot to us. It means a lot to our fans who were huge today for the help that they gave us."

Marco Silva, meanwhile, offered no defence of his side's display as it delivered a toothless performance in front of goal, not helped by the absence of Harry Wilson. 

It failed to score in a Premier League home game for the first time since a 1-0 loss to Arsenal in October, putting to end its longest scoring run at Craven Cottage in the top-flight (10 games) since January 2014 (13).

However, Silva was critical of the decision made by VAR to overturn a decision which had initially given his side a penalty at the start of the second half, after Tom Cairney had gone down under a challenge by Valentin Castellanos.

"We definitely didn't deserve much more from the game," he said. "John Brooks with Fulham Football Club, he was on VAR and he was able to decide against the referee decision on the pitch. It is unbelievable.

"It has been a little bit the story of our season when John Brooks is involved with us.

"It was very unlucky again with the decision when he was not on the pitch, a decision that he took in the office looking for the decision."