David Moyes admitted his West Ham United team are not at their best at present, but vowed that he, his staff and players would not allow recent performances and results to derail what could still be a successful 2023-24 season.

The Hammers’ winless run stretched to six Premier League matches and eight games in all competitions with a 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, and the result was compounded by the sending-off of midfielder Kalvin Phillips in the second half.

The Reds ended their own recent top-flight travails with a goal in each half from Taiwo Awoniyi and Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Moyes observed that the home side played with an urgency and desire that came with their own precarious position in the table.

“At the moment, that’s the way it feels like, that we’re doing everything to try and get things right and make things right [but it’s not happening at the moment],” said Moyes after the defeat.

“We’re obviously lacking a bit of balance in the team, but even if we were playing really well, coming to Nottingham Forest and losing isn’t a sin.

“They’re fighting for their lives against relegation and they’re the team who are under pressure, not us, and they played today like a team who knew that they needed the points to avoid relegation, and it wasn’t too long ago that we were the team who were doing that.”