Newcastle United’s Rafa Benitez and West Ham United’s Slaven Bilic are the favourites to leave their posts this coming campaign.
Bookmaker Sky Bet has released odds on the Premier League’s first managerial casualty of 2017-18 – with Newcastle United’s Rafa Benitez and West Ham United’s Slaven Bilic currently leading the way.
The pair are tied as 4/1 favourites, ahead of the newly appointed Watford and Leicester City bosses, Marco Silva [5/1] and Craig Shakespeare [6/1], and reigning Premier League champion Antonio Conte at Chelsea [7/1].
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte
Newcastle were promoted back to the top flight last season, but have so far struggled to add to their squad – much to the frustration of Benitez [The Sun].
Bilic, meanwhile, has been left to enter the final year of his contract [The Telegraph] – after West Ham’s powers-that-be had earlier pulled out of talks amid concerns over the Hammers’ form [also Telegraph].
Interestingly, West Ham were said to have lined up Benitez as a potential Bilic successor earlier this year [The Mirror], two years after they were initially linked with the Newcastle boss.
In contrast, the most secure bosses according to Sky Bet are Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola [80/1], Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho [both 66/1], and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger [50/1], who are each deemed less likely to leave their posts than no departure occurring at all [33/1].
Whose manager will go first – Newcastle United’s, West Ham United’s or other?
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola
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