Only a few days after VAR fury took over for Lopetegui, whose Wolves side were denied a late winner in their FA Cup draw with Liverpool, the Molineux outfit suffered penalty-shootout heartache in their EFL Cup quarter-final with Forest.
Willy Boly had put the Tricky Trees a goal to the good against his former club before Raul Jimenez levelled from close range, but Ruben Neves and Joe Hodge both missed from 12 yards in the shootout to hand Forest a golden ticket to the semi-finals.
Ugly scenes soon took over as a melee broke out on the field, but with a place in the final four now a distant dream, Wolves must dust themselves down and turn their attention to a daunting run of fixtures versus West Ham, Liverpool (twice) and Manchester City in the space of a few weeks.
The West Midlands outfit’s last Premier League contest ended in a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, which did little to help their efforts to stave off relegation as they remain in 19th place in the standings – one point worse off than West Ham in the safety of 17th place.
Now winless in four successive matches under Lopetegui, Wolves also have an unwanted four-game Premier League losing run at Molineux to correct, while they have only scored a division-low five goals on their own territory so far this season.
Perhaps on borrowed time at the London Stadium, West Ham manager David Moyes seemingly bought himself a few extra hours to turn the Hammers’ fortunes around after gleaning revenge on Brentford with a narrow FA Cup triumph at the weekend.
Only eight days after suffering a 2-0 loss to the Bees in Premier League action, West Ham struck through Said Benrahma in the 79th minute to get the better of Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, and in doing so setting up a fourth-round trip to Derby County.
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Before any pipe dreams of silverware can materialise, West Ham have basement business to attend to in the Premier League, where they are hovering just above the relegation zone in 17th place after playing out a 2-2 draw with Leeds United last Wednesday.
Holding the Whites to a point ended West Ham’s miserable five-game losing run in the division, but their winless streak in the top flight now stands at six matches, and it has been as long as seven contests since Moyes’s side last won away from home in the Premier League – beating Aston Villa at the end of August.
Goals from Gianluca Scamacca and Jarrod Bowen propelled West Ham to a 2-0 victory over Wolves at the London Stadium in October, which marked the Hammers’ fourth win from their last five meetings with Saturday’s hosts, who triumphed in the other battle 1-0 at Molineux last season.
