Potter sack nears as West Ham 'in talks' with top replacement with two alternatives 'interested in position'

West Ham ‘have spoken to’ Nuno Espirito Santo about replacing Graham Potter, who is on the verge of the sack after a fifth defeat in six games this season.

The 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday leaves the Hammers in 18th in the top flight and amid chants of “sail the board” and “we want our club back” by the fans at The London Stadium, Potter looks set to pay the price for problems which extend far deeper.

The Hammers hierarchy are ‘considering their options and are expected to move on from Potter if they find a suitable replacement’ and have now ‘spoken to’ Nuno about taking the reins after he was shown the door by Nottingham Forest this month, according to The Times.

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Nuno led Forest to seventh in the Premier League last term to ensure qualification of European football but his position became untenable after a big fall-out with Edu, the club’s Global Head of Football.

After Saturday’s defeat, Potter said he was “of course” confident that he could turn things around and that being under pressure was “part and parcel of the job”.

He added: “Everyone at the club feels that pressure because the situation isn’t what we want. You have to face it up.

“We want to do better than we are and at the moment we’re not. So we have to find a solution. We have to work, we have to stick together, and we have to find those answers.”

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When asked if he felt he has the support of the West Ham board, he said: “I’ve no reason to think not but I also understand the environment. I have no complaints at all with the support that I’ve had, and the support from the supporters, from everybody at the club.”

On alternative options to replace Potter, the report from The Times adds:

‘Gary O’Neil, who was sacked by Wolves late last year, and Slaven Bilic, who managed West Ham from 2015 to 2017, are believed to be interested in the position. Like Nuno, both are without a club.’

Speaking about the game itself, Potter said: “I’m disappointed for the players, for the supporters. It’s tough at the moment, that’s for sure. I thought we started the game quite well. But then they can find passes through us too easy. And that destabilises us a little bit.

“We had to then defend, too many actions into our box. We tried to fix it and then second half the response was really good from the players and a great atmosphere in the stadium.

“I thought everybody’s pushing and then sometimes we’re in a low moment, the left wing-back comes up and scores a right-foot volley and it knocks the stuffing out of us a little bit. And we didn’t finish the game probably as well as we’d like.”

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