BOB BRADLEY COULD be the first managerial casualty of 2017 as his Swansea side lost for the seventh time in 11 games and for the third time in a row.
The troubled Welsh club conceded four goals against West Ham in front of their own fans and their American coach is inching ever closer to the sack, despite only arriving less than three months ago.
The build-up to the game centred on rumours that the atmosphere at Swansea was toxic and that the players didn’t trust Bradley’s methods – something the manager completely refuted in his pre-match press conference.
And despite the club having US joint-owners, there seems to be an inevitable outcome. Bradley desperately needs a statement from his players on New Year’s Eve, when Swansea host Bournemouth.
If that game doesn’t go to plan, Stephen Kaplan & Jason Levien will have a big decision to make.
On the pitch, Andre Ayew opened the scoring against his former club after 13 minutes before Winston Reid and Michail Antonio added two more in the second half.
Fernando Llorente grabbed a consolation for the Swans before Andy Carroll hit West Ham’s fourth moments later. The result moves the Hammers up to 11th in the table.
Elsewhere, reigning champions Leicester suffered another loss and are now just three points from the drop zone after goals from Kevin Miralles and Romelu Lukaku gave Everton all three points – a first away victory for them since 12 September.
The Foxes were without a number of first-team players, including Jamie Vardy who was beginning his three-game suspension.
The club protested the punishment by handing out 30,000 Vardy face-masks to everyone inside the King Power Stadium.
Timing couldn’t be any worse for Claudio Ranieri, who needs his big players to provide Leicester with some momentum.
At Turf Moor, a mistake from Victor Valdes resulted in Burnley claiming all three points against Middlesbrough.
The former Barcelona goalkeeper allowed Andre Gray’s shot to squirm under his body and roll to the net with just 10 minutes remaining.
The win pushes Sean Dyche’s side six points clear of the bottom three.
