Nuno: West Ham still need options in the transfer market

By Andy Sims, Press Association

Nuno Espirito Santo says West Ham still need new signings to maintain their survival bid after they boosted their chances of beating the drop with a rousing 3-1 win over Sunderland.

All looked lost for Nuno’s increasingly beleaguered side less than two weeks ago when they slipped seven points adrift of safety.

But they backed up last weekend’s welcome win at Tottenham as goals from Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes, either side of Jarrod Bowen’s penalty, moved them to within just two points of 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.

Meanwhile, the rescue effort is continuing behind the scenes, with Argentinian midfielder Guido Rodriguez missing from the squad ahead of a move to Valencia and Fulham winger Adama Traore close to joining.

Lucas Paqueta was absent again amid the ongoing uncertainty surrounding his future, but there was an appearance on the bench for the lesser-spotted James Ward-Prowse, having previously been frozen out by Nuno.

“We have one week to go,” said Nuno. “I still believe that we need to rebalance our squad. We need options in some positions.

“We need to become more competitive. I still believe in the work the club is doing.”

Paqueta remains the target of his former club Flamengo in Brazil and is understood to want to leave.

Asked whether he expects to see the Brazilian in a West Ham shirt again, Nuno added: “What I hope is the situation to be solved as soon as possible.

“Every part involved has to be solved and to be clear, so we have a direction to move forward.”

Sunderland, whose recent away form has tempered their otherwise excellent return to the top flight, did pull one back in the second half when Brian Brobbey headed in Nordi Mukiele’s cross, robbing Nuno of a first clean sheet since taking over in September.

The match was held up by nearly a minute late on when officials had to deal with an apparent altercation involving injured Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka and some West Ham fans behind the Sunderland bench.

“The bench is too far from the sideline so I don’t know what happened,” said Black Cats boss Regis Le Bris.

“We don’t want to think about that – we are thinking about us. We were not at the level. It can happen.”

He added: “They were better than us, they could have scored more. Better in duels, more composed.

“It was too far from our standards and you get punished in this league when that’s the case.”