The curse of being linked with West Ham

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe and Burnley manager Sean Dyche are equally under pressure at their clubs after recent bad runs of form.

Since a 3-1 win over Southampton in late September, the Cherries have remained winless except for a 1-0 win over a poor Manchester United side and more recently lost 3-0 to Liverpool over the weekend.

Does that pattern sound familiar?

Burnley got trashed 5-0 to a poor Spurs over the weekend but they are starting to slide down the table themselves. Their most recent wins have come against a poor Watford side who seemed favorites to go down and West Ham who they beat three-nil in November at Turf moor.

Is their recent poor run of results related being linked as possible replacements for Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham?

Have Howe and Dyche got the West Ham curse of self-destruction?

This week Howe admitted he was embarrassed by the speculation but insisted he was not distracted

He told reporters “I am 100 percent committed to this club and I am a little bit embarrassed with the speculation if I am honest after our recent run of results

It’s all sort of come at a bad time because people will then question “has your work been affected by what’s being said outside” but I don’t read all the nonsense that flies around about it, I focus on my players and training. And that is all there is to say on it.”