‘West Ham could cost me my job’ admits spiky Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl as the pressure mounts ahead of this weekend’s clash.
West Ham head to the coast to take on Southampton on Sunday looking to make it five wins in a row and three on the bounce in the Premier League.
But while everything looks to be on the up at West Ham, quite the opposite is happening at Southampton.
Hasenhuttl’s side have lost five of their last six Premier League matches and sit one place and one point above the bottom three a quarter of the way through the season.
The fact Southampton can pull level on points with visitors West Ham in Sunday’s 2pm kick off tells you everything about just how poorly the Hammers started the campaign.
West Ham head to St Mary’s full of confidence knowing they face a side struggling to find any at all and a manager under intense pressure.
The Hammers have already proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for one club in recent weeks.
After a 2-0 defeat to West Ham two weeks back, Bruno Lage was sacked by Wolves.
Now Moyes and his boys could help put the seal on a P45 for another manager.
‘West Ham could cost me my job’ admits spiky Saints boss Hasenhuttl as the pressure mounts at St Mary’s.
Speaking in his pre-West Ham press conference, Austrian Hasenhuttl appeared agitated and was very blunt when giving his verdict on Joe Shields’ departure to Chelsea as director of recruitment.
And Hasenhuttl bluntly conceded the reality that his job is on the line when the Hammers come to town.
“I don’t read social media,” Hasenhuttl said when asked about the low mood around Southampton (Hampshire Live).
“I can only speak about the atmosphere at the last home game (a 4-0 defeat to Man City) and it was 90 mins of support.
“This (speculation over my job) is a Premier League situation over the last four years,” the Saints boss said when asked if he was ‘on the edge’ of the axe.
“I often speak about how margins are for winning a game. These margins you have to put on your side. You have to show we can do this to be successful again.
“It’s (the camp) as positive as possible following tough results. We had a normal week after two games in a week.
“We worked during the week on a few things with a motivated group and yesterday watched a strong opponent in their Europa Conference game.”
What is clear is that West Ham must start quickly and go at Southampton given the atmosphere surrounding the club.
If Moyes sits off and allows the Saints time to compose themselves then West Ham might waste a golden chance to capitalise on the uncertainty at St Mary’s.
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