West Ham United have postponed today’s scheduled press conference for Julen Lopetegui with the Spaniard’s future at the club uncertain.
The expectation is that West Ham will make a managerial change following a run of results that has left them 14th in the Premier League 20 games into Lopetegui’s first season in charge.
Lopetegui is still scheduled to take training today (Wednesday), which is due to start at 9.30am GMT, ahead of Friday’s FA Cup third-round trip to Aston Villa but that may yet change.
Saturday’s 4-1 defeat by Manchester City left West Ham eight points above the relegation zone after six wins from 20 league matches.
On December 4, The Athletic reported that Lopetegui’s future was being discussed by the West Ham board and the Spaniard was fighting to save his job. That came following a 5-2 home defeat against Arsenal and a 3-1 away loss against newly-promoted Leicester City, results which left West Ham 14th.
Since then, West Ham have beaten Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton, drawn against Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion and suffered a 5-0 home loss against Liverpool and 4-1 loss at City on Saturday.
Following the City result, The Athletic reported that technical director Tim Steidten was staying away from the training ground as Lopetegui intended to focus on improving the team’s performance.
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After signing Lopetegui to a two-year contract with the option of a further 12 months in May, West Ham, under Steidten, were active in the summer transfer window as they brought in Max Kilman, Crysencio Summerville, Carlos Soler, Niclas Fullkrug, Luis Guilherme, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo, Guido Rodriguez and Wes Foderingham. But the London club won only one of their opening six league games and the pressure has continued to grow on Lopetegui and the team.
The Liverpool defeat saw Lopetegui’s team booed off at half-time, when the score was 3-0, and again at full-time. Following the loss at Leicester earlier in December, the travelling West Ham fans sang, “You’re getting sacked in the morning” at Lopetegui — a chant they repeated at the Etihad Stadium.
After the Villa game, West Ham return to Premier League action next Tuesday when they host Fulham.
(Carl Recine/Getty Images)
