West Ham’s Championship promotion bid has fallen on hard times after their latest defeat sent them tumbling down the table.

The Irons were flying high and looked nailed on to win promotion as recently as two weeks ago, when they hit a nine-man Lincoln City for six and beat promotion rivals Swansea away.

But back-to-back defeats by Southampton and West Brom have knocked the Hammers off their perch and sent them crashing down the Championship standings. They will end this weekend in eighth place, six points adrift of leaders Middlesbrough.

The hosts trailed early as they hosted the Baggies, with Felix Horn Myhre opening the scoring after 20 minutes, but Jarrod Bowen had them back on level terms just nine minutes after with his seventh goal of the campaign.

The afternoon quickly unravelled, though, as the Chelsea academy product Jimmy-Jay Morgan took advantage of an error from Airidas Golambeckis, standing in for the injured Konstantinos Mavropanos, to restore West Brom’s lead shortly after half-time. Callum Styles added a third later on, this one the product of Morato’s slip.

Defensive fragility has been a theme of West Ham’s campaign, and this disastrous performance left them winless in their last four home matches. That run includes missed last-gasp penalties against Charlton and QPR which ultimately cost them three points.

There was frustration from the home fans and glee from those who travelled down from the Midlands, who serenaded Nuno with the familiar cry: “You’re getting sacked in the morning.”

While there is no indication that is a possibility for the beleaguered gaffer, he is beginning to feel the pressure.

“This is the reality: we can only change this if we win games. The solution is results, we have to go back to results.

“When you lose at home to Charlton, Southampton and West Brom, the only solution is to improve our game.

“There is pressure every day. We have conceded six goals at home in two games and we have to fix it. That cannot happen.

“In the first half we were too far away from each other and for the second goal we allowed too much time, with no cover in the box.

“The idea and the approach is to try and score first. That is the objective of any team and it’s our responsibility to change it.”

Additional reporting: Press Association