Wood headed home for his sixth goal in his past six Premier League games midway through the first half, before Julen Lopeteui's visitors saw Edson Alvarez sent off.

Playing the second half with 10 men, the Hammers' woes were compounded by further goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ola Aina as Forest stretched its unbeaten run to four top-flight matches.

Nuno Espirito Santo's men leapfrogged Arsenal into third place on the table after the Gunners' 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United earlier in the day.

But the Forest coach believes the lofty position “doesn’t mean anything" at this stage of the season.

"It doesn't mean anything now. We have to keep going as it's a over long season ahead of us," he said.

"Positive moment but we should keep going.

"I think all of us should be proud of the way we performed, we started the game well and controlled their threat while being positive going forward.

"The red card changed everything but the players understood not to be complacent. This is what football is about, fantastic moment for us and the fans."

West Ham, meanwhile, slipped to 14th with 11 points from 10 matches, having failed to build on last week's victory over Manchester United.