West Ham climbed out of the dreaded drop-zone with a fantastic, formidable, four-goal victory as they felled Forest with a spectacular second-half salvo.

Despite dominating during a deadlocked opening 70 minutes, the Hammers then simply ran riot as they bagged a quick-fire quartet of late goals thanks to full-debutant Danny Ings' deadly-double plus strikes from skipper Declan Rice and substitute Michail Antonio.

A cocktail of unfavourable results mixed with last Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur had seen David Moyes' men kick-off in 18th spot having won just one of their previous 11 Premier League matches.

And following that lacklustre loss in north London, Moyes made a quartet of changes as Ings, Saïd Benrahma, Ben Johnson and fit-again Lucas Paquetá replaced substitutes Antonio, Flynn Downes, Emerson Palmieri and Thilo Kehrer.

Inside the opening minute, the hungry Ings meandered into the Forest area but an alert Keylor Navas strode from his line to thwart the Hammers striker and, although Angelo Ogbonna could only then despatch a wayward 20-yarder for a throw-in, the Scot would have been pleased with his side’s stunning start.

Indeed, forcing five corners inside the first 10 minutes, West Ham had Navas on red-alert, the 110-times capped Costa Rican keeper diverting one flag-kick over his own bar before dropping another in a home assault that climaxed with Felipe inadvertently sending an attempted clearance onto the base of his left-hand post.

Having lost just one of their last seven matches, Forest arrived in the capital five places and five points above the Hammers but despite leapfrogging Moyes men in the Premier League table in recent weeks, they had only managed to bag one win, three draws and a trio of goals on their travels this season.

After last week’s morale-boosting draw with high-flying Manchester City, Steve Cooper made a couple of switches with Chris Wood and Neco Williams coming in for the injured Serge Aurier (calf) and substitute Danilo, who joined former Hammers André Ayew and Jesse Lingard on the bench.

Incredibly, Forest have fielded no less than 33 different players this season but – apart from seeing Felipe’s header tipped over the crossbar by Łukasz Fabiański – the 11 out on the Stratford surface struggled to get the ball out of their own half during the opening 20 minutes as West Ham quickly sought to break the deadlock.

Midway through the first period, though, the supporting Morgan Gibbs-White found himself with both time and space to unleash a 20-yarder that fizzed into Fabiański’s gloves, while at the other end, Ings powered a point-blank header into Souček’s back before Benrahma cleverly combined with Paquetá and drove into the area where he forced Navas into a low save.

Record-signing Paquetá had the home crowd drooling 10 minutes before the break with a passage of tricks and flicks but when the Brazilian was then sandwiched by Jonjo Shelvey and Wood, the alarm bells sounded around the East End as he writhed on the turf holding the suspect shoulder that has dogged his season.

Fortunately, the South American playmaker was able to continue through until the conclusion of a goalless first-half, albeit Aaron Cresswell emerged for the second period in place of Vladimír Coufal (heel) and within seconds of his arrival the veteran left-back floated a corner into the near-post, where Souček’s header sailed over the bar.

On 55 minutes, with Stratford showers falling from the skies, Jarrod Bowen strode forward and let fly with a low 20-yarder that skidded across the greasy surface and onto the base of Navas’ right-hand upright and then Forest’s on-loan Paris Saint-Germain goalie had to race from his goal to thwart Ings.

In reply, Brennan Johnson sent a 20-yarder beyond Fabianski’s outstretched right glove and the post before Ayew came on for Shelvey, while the floored Fabiański also retired after being accidentally caught by Felipe, leaving former PSG keeper Alphonse Areola to replace the pole-axed Polish stopper.

With Areola still pulling on his gloves at one end, though, the Hammers finally and deservedly broke the deadlock at the other.

On 70 minutes, Ings started and finished the move that secured his first goal in claret and blue, spraying the ball wide to Bowen, before January’s £15million signing from Aston Villa arrived in the Forest danger-zone where he got between Joe Worrall and Williams to bundle home.

And with the celebrations still subsiding, just three minutes later Benrahma burst into the left-hand side of the area before crossing into the six-yard box, where Ings scrambled the ball into the net despite Renan Lodi’s best efforts to prevent it crossing the line.

After rejecting a permanent summer move to the East End, former Hammers loanee Lingard stepped from the bench to a chorus of boos as he replaced Wood, while Harry Toffolo also came on for Lodi but with those two new boys still adjusting to life on the pitch, Forest’s two-goal deficit quickly became three as West Ham converted for the third time inside eight minutes.

With a dozen minutes remaining Rice won possession in midfield before advancing to the edge of the Forest area, where he played the ball wide to Benrahma and, with the Algerian rolling an inviting square ball back into his path, the Hammers skipper curled a simply unstoppable 18-yarder around the groping glove of Navas, under the right-hand angle.

His captain having now trebled his side’s advantage, Moyes had sufficient slack to withdraw Benrahma, the impressive Paquetá and man-of-the-match Ings as Antonio, Pablo Fornals and Manuel Lanzini all came on for late cameos.

That switch paid an instant dividend for within seconds of his arrival, Antonio climbed above Toffolo at the far post to meet a high, hanging cross from fellow substitute Fornals after Cresswell had sent the overlapping Spaniard sprinting to the byline.

Antonio’s seventh goal of the campaign cemented a much-needed and vital victory for West Ham and, importantly, Moyes, who having now joined Sir Alex Ferguson and Arséne Wenger in 250 Premier League wins, will sleep much easier tonight with the Hammers in the relative safety of 16th spot.

West Ham United: Fabianski (Areola 70), Coufal (Cresswell 66), Johnson, Aguerd, Ogbonna, Souček, Rice, Paquetá (Lanzini 83), Bowen, Benrahma (Fornals 83), Ings (Antonio 83). Unused subs: Areola, Scamacca, Downes, Kehrer, Emerson.

Forest: Navas, Lodi, Williams, Worrall, Felipe, Shelvey (Ayew 66)., Freuler, Colback, Gibbs-White, Wood (Lingard 77), Johnson (Surridge 86). Unused subs: Hennessey, Mangala, Dennis, Danilo, Scarpa.

Referee: Jarred Gillett.