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West Ham United have no immediate plans to sack head coach Nuno Espirito Santo following his side’s 3-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

The defeat left West Ham 18th in the Premier League, four points from safety. However, sources briefed on the situation say West Ham’s board plan on backing the 51-year-old in the transfer window this month.

Ahead of the window opening, Nuno said the club needed to “rebalance” the squad. West Ham have already completed the signing of 22-year-old striker Pablo Felipe from Gil Vicente.

On Saturday, West Ham travelled to Molineux to face a Wolves side who had yet to win a league game this season and had accumulated just three points in 19 games. However, the away side conceded three goals in the first half and fell to a significant defeat against Nuno’s former side.

Speaking after the game, Nuno said: “I have to apologise to the fans, I have to apologise. We have to apologise to the fans, those that travelled today, it was embarrassing. There’s not much I can say other than we are sorry, we are sorry, because what we showed today was not good enough.”

“We needed much more from our players. The way we performed was very poor. It was embarrassing because I don’t recall one day that I felt so bad on a football pitch like today.”

Nuno was hired by West Ham on September 27 after sacking Graham Potter earlier in the day. The Portuguese signed a three-year deal with the club, having only left Nottingham Forest earlier that month. Nuno has only won two games in his tenure — against Newcastle United and Burnley — having drawn five and lost eight. West Ham failed to keep a clean sheet in any of those matches.

Doubt over Nuno’s future comes against the backdrop of wider fan protest against the West Ham board. A fan advisory board issued a vote of no confidence in September, while supporters called for majority shareholder David Sullivan and vice-chairman Karren Brady to resign during protests at the matches against Crystal Palace and Burnley.

West Ham return to action against 17th-placed Forest at the London Stadium on Tuesday.

Roshane Thomas is a staff writer who covers West Ham United for The Athletic. Previously, he worked for the Sunday Times and talkSPORT. Follow Roshane on Twitter @RoshaneSport