Morgan Gibbs-White’s late penalty fired Nottingham Forest to a crucial 2-1 win over West Ham that left their relegation rivals in deep trouble on Tuesday.
Sean Dyche’s side fell behind to Murillo’s early own goal at the London Stadium.
But West Ham had a second goal from Crysencio Summerville controversially ruled out by VAR for the tightest of offside decisions.
Forest rubbed salt into West Ham’s wounds with a stirring fightback as Nicolas Dominguez equalised before Gibbs-White netted from the spot after another VAR call went the visitors’ way.
Fourth-bottom Forest are now seven points clear of third-bottom West Ham with 17 games left in the fight for survival.
Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo said last weekend’s dismal 3-0 defeat against bottom of the table Wolves was the worst of his managerial career.
But this painful loss was even more damaging to their hopes of avoiding a first season in the Championship since 2011-12.
West Ham have gone 10 games without a win, managing just one point from their last six matches to leave Nuno facing calls for his sacking just months after arriving at the east London club.
Ending a run of four successive defeats was a massive boost to Forest’s bid to beat the drop under boss Sean Dyche, who replaced Nuno at the City Ground in September.
Nuno was in charge of Forest for 21 months, leading them to their first European berth in three decades, before being sacked in September after a dispute with owner Evangelos Marinakis over the club’s transfer policy.
He has been unable to replicate his Forest success with West Ham.
Since Nuno took charge on September 27 they have averaged fewer points per game than under his much-maligned processor Graham Potter.
– Forest on fire –
On a freezing night in east London, many West Ham fans showed their discontent by staying at home, leaving swathes of empty seats around the London Stadium.
Nuno’s team took the lead with a huge stroke of luck in the 13th minute.
Tomas Soucek rose highest to flick Summerville’s corner into the six-yard box and Murillo was unable to react in time as he glanced a header into his own net.
It was no surprise that the opening goal came from a corner — only West Ham have conceded more goals from that route in the Premier League this season than Forest’s eight.
West Ham thought they had doubled their advantage in the 51st minute through Summerville’s powerful drive, but the goal was disallowed by VAR for a narrow offside call against debutant Valentin Castellanos in the build-up.
Nuno was furious but Forest seized on the reprieve to equalise in the 55th minute.
Once again, it was weakness at set-pieces that proved fatal for West Ham as Dominguez met Elliot Anderson’s corner with a looping header that dropped into the far corner while the Hammers defence stood statuesque.
West Ham tried to respond but Sels made a vital double save from Kyle Walker-Peters and Castellanos before Areola’s blunder handed Forest their decisive penalty.
In a bid to punch clear, Areola came off his line and thumped into Gibbs-White’s head with his out-stretched arm.
The penalty was awarded after a VAR check and Gibbs-White dusted himself down to drill the spot-kick past Areola, pushing the crest-fallen Nuno to the brink.