Business as usual with Allardyce back favourite to be next manager gone

All of the latest gossip and developments around Mauricio Pochettino’s immediate future at Southampton certainly eased some of the feelings that Sam Allardyce would be the next Premier League manager to lose his job.

However, now that the dust has settled and the feeling is that Pochettino will remain until the end of the season before deciding on his longer-term future, it is business as usual in the betting to be the next manager out.

Although Allardyce is not as short as the 4/9 that he was after the FA Cup hammering by Nottingham Forest, the West Ham boss is the 7/4 favourite to be the next Premier League manager to go.

The seeming defeat to Everton for striker Lacina Traore will not help Allardyce’s cause, as he has set the Hammers a target of securing 22 points from their final 16 games to avoid relegation.

Should he make headway in accomplishing this feat, his job should be safe until the end of the season, as there is every possibility that firing Allardyce is the last resort, given the amount he would be owed in compensation.

West Ham’s odds are 13/8 to be relegated this season and not only are they currently in the bottom three, they have only won one game against opposition currently above 17th in the Premier League standings, which was away at Tottenham.

The Hammers have conceded three in all five home matches against opposition currently in the top eight and so this does not bode well for their prospects of taking points off of Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United at Upton Park.

This almost means they have to win all of their five other home games, against Southampton, Hull, Norwich, Swansea and Crystal Palace.

On their travels, visits to Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea are hard to expect points from, although they do have away games left with Sunderland and Aston Villa, who are statistically the two worst teams on their own patch in the top-flight.

However, it is worth remembering that West Ham have never won back-to-back Premier League games under Allardyce.