It was a bad weekend for both West Brom manager Alan Pardew and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger. The Baggies suffered their fifth straight Premier League defeat with a 1-0 reverse at Watford which leaves them a massive eight points away from safety, potentially nine with their poor goal difference. So with nine games to go this season, they are going to have to go on a tear to get themselves safe and on Sunday, the Baggies were 1/25 odds-on favourite at William Hill get relegated* (betting odds taken on March 4th, 2018 at 6:58 p.m.).
As for Arsenal, they drifted further away from the top four with their third straight league defeat in a row. The Gunners tamely went down 2-1 out at Brighton on Sunday which leaves the Gunners thirteen points behind fourth-placed Spurs and eight points adrift of fifth-placed Chelsea. So after a lame EFL Cup Final defeat against Man City amidst their poor run of form, the pressure on Arsene Wenger to step aside, is now pretty much untenable.
But Wenger is the 4/1 second favourite at William Hill in the Next Manager To Leave market, with Pardew in a 4/9* (betting odds taken on March 4th, 2018 at 6:58 p.m.).
This is really late in the season to be making changes, more so from West Brom’s point of view. Assuming that the Baggies lose against Leicester on the weekend in the top flight and Pardew gets the boot, that would leave just eight games for someone to try and get the Baggies safe. The new manager bubble effect may come in as we have seen with Carlos Carvalhal at Swansea, but in their last five games of the season, the Baggies have to face Man Utd, Liverpool and Tottenham still.
Arsenal to benefit more from a current change
So basically anyone who takes over isn’t likely to get them safe. So will they just ride it out with Pardew and make changes in the summer? Arsenal would benefit more from a change at the moment to give someone new a chance to settle into the club ahead of next season. But time and time again you will have seen the board sticking with Arsenal, just as they did last season after a poor league campaign which didn’t yield a top-four finish, was glossed over by FA Cup success.
Arsenal only have one chance at silverware now and that is the UEFA Europa League in which they face AC Milan on Thursday night in the first leg, one of the toughest draws that they could have gotten. Will a defeat out at the San Siro in midweek be curtains for Wenger? Is the Arsenal board bold enough to chop the Frenchman before the end of the season? The thing is, that they do have a pretty comfortable-looking run-in to the end of the Premier League season with only three games against current top-half of the table sides to come, their toughest easily their trip to Manchester United on April 29th.
With a good run of league home games coming up next (Watford, Stoke and Southampton) and the chance to get some good momentum going again because the Gunners do have decent home form in the top flight, will the Gunners just see the season out with Wenger? Both Wenger and Pardew are walking a pretty thin line when it comes to their job and both ultimately look set to go. But which one goes first?
Next Premier League Manager to go odds*
Alan Pardew 4/9, Arsene Wenger 4/1, Antonio Conte 7/2, Mauricio Pellegrino 9/1, Sam Allardyce 16/1, 33/1 bar* (betting odds taken on March 4th, 2018 at 6:58 p.m.)
