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Potter may already be under pressure | Getty Images
Two London club bosses are among the favourites to be sacked first in the Premier League this season.
The Premier League has only just begun, but the oddsmakers are already eyeing up possible sackings, or at least the next manager to be sacked. Across the course of the Premier League season, we usually see at least a handful of sackings and new managerial appointments.
Among those will likely be a high-profile sacking, but many of the firings tend to be towards the bottom of the table. A couple of the London clubs are at risk of finding themselves in that situation, and according to the oddsmakers, two managers are among the favourites to get the boot next.
In fact, West Ham boss Graham Potter is the current favourite with most to be sacked at 9/4. The Englishman failed to get a tune out of his men after taking over in January, and an opening day defeat to Sunderland did not help set the tone for the new campaign.
Alan Shearer said on Match of the Day: “I would be [concerned]. That’s Graham Potter’s biggest defeat as West Ham manager. They haven’t replaced Kudus, two new players in the starting lineup. Callum Wilson came on, but Bowen was their main threat, particularly in the first half. The second half would be the one to worry about because, once they conceded that first goal, they folded like a pack of cards. There was no spark, no energy, and there was certainly no reaction at all, and that would be the worrying thing already.”
West Ham are backing Potter for now, something we will come back to, but it’s clear he will need to start picking up results if he wants to win over supporters after a difficult few months in charge.
Elsewhere, the second favourite to be sacked first this season is Brentford boss Keith Andrews at 3/1. The Irishman was only appointed in the summer, but he has the tough task of replacing Thomas Frank and without the help of Bryan Mbeumo, and likely Yoane Wissa, too.
Roy Keane said of Andrews’ task when speaking before the start of the season to Sky Sports: “Well, it’s a great opportunity. Obviously, he’s had a tough summer with players leaving and the manager leaving, but he’s been in that environment last year, working there. But what an opportunity for him to work in the Premiership. For all the problems, there’s still enough there. There’s still a good group of players, enough quality, and if they get one or two in over the next few weeks, what an opportunity. He does talk a good game, he always has.
"He just needs to back it up now. Again, it’s a good game for him today, going to Forest. I think they have a good record there; they’ll always be strong in terms of set pieces. Yeah, I think it will be a tough start, but what an opportunity. He’s got to embrace it and, listen, let’s see how he gets on."
Among the other favourites to be sacked first are Scott Parker of Burnley (15/2) and Nottingham Forest’s Nuno Espirito Santo (9/1).
Potter backed
Speaking in the wake of a disappointing opening day, West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady said on TalkSport: “Graham is a forward thinking manager. He's sort of calm under pressure. He's very detailed in his approach. He's a great man, manager of players. He has a modern mindset and all of those things mean it does take some time to put a team together, to get the team playing the way that you want. West Ham is not a club that panics about its managers. We tend to stick with them, tend to support people, stick with them and see it through."
Brady added: “I know his relationship with the players is good. I know he'll be sitting down with them today to have a long, hard think about what went wrong yesterday, expecting a reaction and expecting to put it right. I spent a lot of time with the manager and the squad in America on the preseason tour. The spirit among them is fantastic. I know that they'll be more disappointed, that they'll be the most disappointed people this morning. I know we'll see a reaction and I know they want to turn it around and they'll want to turn it around quickly."
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