Next West Ham manager: Big development emerges as pressure mounts on Julen Lopetegui after Leicester City loss

Bookmakers have stopped taking bets on the next Premier League manager to be sacked amid increasing pressure on West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui.

The Foxes, in their first game under former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, defeated the Irons 3-1 at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday. It was a game that saw West Ham dominate possession and have 31 shots on goal, compared to just eight from Leicester. However, they were unable to turn that into three points as goals from Jamie Vardy, Bilal El Khannouss and Patson Daka was enough for the home side. Niclas Fullkrug did manage a late consolation for West Ham.

Lopetegui has so far failed to get his Hammers managerial career off the ground. West Ham have beaten Manchester United and Newcastle United this season but have lost seven of their 14 league games. Two of those defeats have come over the last few days with the 3-1 defeat at Leicester preceded by a 5-2 home loss against Arsenal. Prior to odds being suspended in the next Premier League manager to go market, Lopetegui was the favourite ahead of the likes of Russell Martin of Southampton and Wolves boss Gary O’Neil. It suggests a big update could now arrive as soon as today. Lopetegui was in a defiant mood after Tuesday’s loss as he pointed to West Ham’s domination and insisted the players were behind him.

“Reflection today is not easy, because I think that we deserved much more,” he said afterwards. “We had 31 shots on the opposite goal, many, many chances. The first goal of them has been key. We have to do better than this. We have to avoid this start of the match, because after this goal they believed more. Normally if you create even fewer chances, you are going to win. We didn’t do it, so we are very frustrated. The players didn’t deserve this.”

Asked if he felt his position was under threat, Lopetegui said: “The only thing I’m worried about now is to go to the training session tomorrow and to prepare the players for the next challenge. I understand your question. We have a lot of matches. I am sure with this attitude we are going to be able to achieve many more points. We are very frustrated. At the end of the season, maybe we will be talking another way. There are a lot of matches in front of us, a lot of points. I believe in these players, I believe in the team, and I believe the second half of the season is going to be much better.”

On TV, he had said: “The [players] want to win for them, for me, for the club. This is about football, about winning. I told the players that we deserved much more if you are able to create this number of chances. For me each match is very important and the next match is going to be the most important. We have to be focused and do a good performance to win the match."