Pellegrini may have just one game left

Moyes 

West Ham’s owners currently have every alarm bell in their heads ringing after the defeat against Arsenal at the London Stadium.

But there will be no change – if at all – until after Saturdays game against Southampton despite the club now being embroiled head-on into a relegation battle.

It is a crucial game for manager Manuel Pellegrini and one from which he must take something if his hopes of remaining at the club are to remain alive.

Defeat at bottom three-placed Southampton could almost certainly be the final straw for a board who will need to dig up 12 months compensation for Pellegrini and his backroom staff if the Hammers amounting to around £8m-£10m should they wield the axe.

Saints will leapfrog the Irons should they win at St Mary’s but with Aston Villa at Sheffield United, a slide into the bottom three for the Irons looks unlikely.

However, a defeat would make the Hammers board’s job in deciding to keep the Chilean in place very difficult indeed and the sack would come as no surprise.

Should it happen the club will be right back in the position it was after dismissing Slaven Bilic with a fire fighting manager required to drive the team out of relegation trouble.

And that could see the likes of David Moyes, Tony Pulis or even Sam Allardyce back in the frame should any of them fancy staking their futures – such as they might be – on successfully achieving such an objective.