Southampton boss closing in on leaders in Premier League Sack Race

Southampton v Leicester City is by no means the best game of the weekend in the Premier League, but our traders will be keeping a very close eye on proceedings. That’s because Saints boss Claude Puel is continuing to be backed in the Premier League Sack Race.

Having been priced up as an unlikely outsider at 9/1 in the market two weeks ago, a run of four consecutive defeats has seen his odds fall to 13/2.

Defeat against the Foxes this weekend though could well see the Frenchman backed into favouritism.

Things haven’t exactly gone according to plan for the south-coast outfit since Ronald Koeman left for Everton and Puel took over. And they look a mere shadow of the side they were last season.

They managed an impressive sixth-placed finish last time out, but this time around they’re closer to the bottom three than they are to the leading sextet. in terms of point margins.

They’re scoring and winning fewer than they were at this stage last year too, and while their defence has been relatively solid up to this point, the imminent exit of Jose Fonte means that suddenly Southampton have another problem on their hands.

In truth, the market is closer than it looks, following the dismissals of Bob Bradley, Mike Phelan and Alan Pardew in recent weeks.

As things stand, it’s Walter Mazzarri leading the way at 13/8 to be sent packing next, although his Watford side are just a point above the Saints at the moment, and will fancy their chances of leapfrogging them this weekend with a win over Bournemouth.

Sunderland’s David Moyes is next in the running behind Mazzarri at 4/1 to be dismissed from his post, although you get the feeling that if the Black Cats were going to sack the former Manchester United boss, they’d have done so by now.

After Moyes comes Bilic at 11/2, but the West Ham gaffer certainly has the backing of plenty of fans, who feel the players are more to blame for the team’s poor start than the Croatian manager.

We’ve already had four managerial casualties so far in the Premier League this year, but if this horrendous run continues, it won’t be long before Claude Puel becomes the fifth name on that list.

Ladbrokes Latest Betting

Premier League Sack Race

Walter Mazzarri – 9/4

David Moyes – 4/1

Slaven Bilic – 11/2

Claude Puel – 13/2

Aitor Karanka – 14/1

Click here for a full list of Sack Race odds.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing