Graham Potter appears resigned to his fate as pressure mounts on West Ham boss

Dejected Graham Potter looked resigned to his fate after West Ham’s latest home defeat left him facing the sack.

The Hammers slumped to a third straight home loss to a London rival, 2-1 against Crystal Palace.

They have lost four of their five Premier League matches this season, while Potter has won only six of his 25 matches since he took over as head coach in January.

That there are names are already being bandied around as his replacement at this notoriously leaky club – namely Nuno Espirito Santo, Gary O’Neil and former boss Slaven Bilic – it seems likely Potter’s number could soon be up.

After a match played out to a backdrop of thousands of fans protesting against club owner David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady at an increasingly mutinous London Stadium, Potter admitted: “It’s a tough moment, for sure.”

Asked whether he felt he still had the support of the Hammers hierarchy, he replied: “I’ve no reason to think not.

“But I also understand the environment and the results. But I have no complaints about the support I have had.”

Angry fans are demanding change off the pitch, but unfortunately for Potter everything is still the same on it; West Ham cannot defend corners, they roll over when the going gets tough at their unpopular stadium and are over-reliant on Jarrod Bowen.

It was Hammers captain Bowen who equalised with a glancing second-half header to cancel out Jean-Phillipe Mateta’s goal, which inevitably came from a corner.

But Potter’s luck was summed up when the unlikely figure of Tyrick Mitchell hit a screamer to win it for Palace.

“When your in a low moment their left wing-back scores with right-footed volley,” said Potter with the air of a man who simply cannot catch a break.

As for the chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ and ‘sacked in the morning’, he added: “I didn’t hear it. I understand the frustration, but there’s nothing I can say.”

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, are everything West Ham are not; upwardly mobile, progressive and with a spring in their step as FA Cup holders.

Their boss Oliver Glasner admitted he targeted West Ham’s Achilles heel, just as Chelsea and Tottenham had before them.

“We talked about it,” he said. “I was a defender as a player and you have periods when you concede set-pieces and it gets into your mind. It’s natural. It just happens.”

The Eagles remain unbeaten this season and Glasner added: “We played a good first half and were controlling the game.

“Then, all of a sudden it’s 1-1 and West Ham were better. But credit to the players, we turned the game and it was a deserved win.

“The only criticism is that we didn’t kill the game when we could have done.

“There are many positives to take but still a lot of potential, and that’s good. We deserved the win, but we could have made it a little bit easier.”