Which Premier League manager could be next to face the axe?

Despite Tottenham’s poor start to the season, the clubs decision to sack Mauricio Pochettino came as a surprise to many considering the clear improvements that he is responsible for at Tottenham. In the eyes of many, Pochettino didn’t seem like he’d be the first Premier League manager to face the sack this season, in an earlier piece we mentioned 2 other managers who were under pressure and were in arguably worse positions than Pochettino. We don’t particularly enjoy discussing managers losing their jobs, but considering the high expectations of Premier League clubs managers are constantly changing and it might not be long before we see another Premier League manager lose their job.

After winning only 3 of their opening 8 Premier League games this season, pressure soon mounted on Everton boss Marco Silva, and considering that he spent just over £100m in the summer, it’s understandable. As of the writing of this piece, Everton find themselves 15th in the Premier League and just 6 points from the relegation zone. A win for Everton in their game against Norwich could take the Toffees upto 7th in the Premier League, so Silva can easily rectify his sides poor start to the season, if Everton fail to win the game they could find themselves at 17th in the Premier League. It’s a vital game for Everton and Silva and could be pivotal in Silva’s Everton career.

As of the writing of this piece, the Bookmaker’s choice for the next manager to lose their job is Unai Emery after failing to impress and make and any considerable improvements at Arsenal. Understandably there wasn’t much expectation on Emery during his first season as he needed time to build his squad and implement his tactics. One expectation however was to qualify for the Champions League, either by finishing in the top 4 or winning the Europa League, and considering his Europa League record where he won the competition 3 times in a row with Sevilla, it was seen as a underachievement for Emery to lose the Europa League final 4-1 to London rivals Chelsea and consequently fail to qualify for the Champions League.

After spending just over £130m in the summer by bringing in the likes of: Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, William Saliba (who has been sent back to St Etienne on loan) and David Luiz, Emery has had a pretty miserable start to the season having won only 4 of their opening 12 Premier League games and patience is running out with some Arsenal fans. It’s not out of the question to think that Emery could be out of a job before Christmas is results don’t go his way, but if Emery is given until the end of the season and fails to qualify for the Champions League, it is a huge possibility that he may be relieved of his duties at Arsenal.

Considering the poor start Manchester United experience last season under Jose Mourinho, it’s a miracle that United were even in the race for a top 4 spot when Ole Gunnar Solskjær took over as interim manager and subsequently permanent manager towards the end of the last season, so it would be unfair to blame Solskjaer for failing to qualify for the Champions League last season. However, considering his record since he became the permanent manager at Old Trafford, as of the writing of this piece United have only won 11 of their last 30 games since their 3-1 victory away at PSG, resulting in United currently being 7th in the Premier League, 9 points behind Manchester City in 4th and 18 points behind Liverpool in 1st.

Some United fans are happy to give Solskjaer more time as he is clearly in the process of rebuilding United by getting rid of some of the “deadwood” players as well as giving game time to the likes of: James Garner, Mason Greenwood, Brandon Williams and Tahith Chong. Other United fans on the other hand believe that Soslkjaer is out of his depth at a club like United and would like a more experienced manager in charge. Regardless of what the United fans want, if Solskjaer is unable to improve his form at United by either winning a trophy or qualifying for the Champions League, it is likely that the Manchester United board may run out of patience with him.

Finally, another manager who is in contention to be relieved of their duties is Southampton boss Ralf Hasenhuttl. It’s been a miserable start to the season for Southampton as the Saints find themselves in the relegation zone after 12 games and 3 points from safety, on top of that, an historic 9-0 defeat to Leicester put them on the wrong side of history as they suffered the biggest home defeat in Premier League history. If you take away the big defeat to Leiecster, there probably wouldn’t be as much pressure on Hasenhuttl as their currently is, in our eyes, it's unfair to blame the result entirely on Hasenhuttl as his players were at fault for the defeat and let him down. Considering that their next game is away to Arsenal, it’s difficult to see Southampton picking up any points this week, however, if they can get wins against relegation rivals Watford, Norwich and Aston Villa in their next few games, they could be out of the relegation zone before Christmas.