West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo in legal dispute with Nottingham Forest over sacking | OneFootball

West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo has hired lawyers to take on his former club Nottingham Forest, according to The Athletic.

The West Ham boss joined the London Stadium club after he was sacked by Forest at the beginning of the season.

Nuno left the City Ground club three-and-a-half months after signing a new three-year contract.

It is unknown whether the Hammers manager is in legal dispute with them over the financial terms of the deal.

He will be desperate to get one over his former club by ensuring he keeps West Ham up at their expense if possible.

Forest are 17th in the league table after 29 games, but they are only ahead of 18th-place Hammers due to a superior goal difference.

Both teams are one point behind 16th-place Tottenham Hotspur, while 15th-place Leeds United lead them by three points.

Nuno has managed to get West Ham impressing in recent weeks and will hope they can keep getting better going forward.

He helped Forest qualify for Europe for the first time in 30 years following a seventh-place finish last term, and keeping West Ham up will be huge too.

A dispute with Forest’s global head of football Edu and his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis breaking down over the summer ultimately led to his sacking last September after just three games into the current campaign.

West Ham hired him a few days later and will hope they made the right decision in the coming weeks.

They have won four of their last eight league fixtures, drawing two and losing two, and they have some tough league games ahead.

The Hammers return to Premier League action on March 14 when they host Manchester City before games against Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

They take on Crystal Palace, Everton, Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle United and Leeds United in their final six league fixtures of the season and will need to come up with some top performances to boost their survival chances.