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Premier League club sack manager ahead of Aston Villa clashes

Julen Lopetegui
-Credit:PA Media


West Ham have sacked Julen Lopetegui ahead of their FA Cup third round clash against Aston Villa on Friday.

The Hammers also play at Villa Park in the Premier League on Sunday, January 26. The news comes after West Ham's 4-1 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday. It has been widely reported that Graham Potter has been lined up as Lopetegui's replacement.

Defeat at the Etihad Stadium was West Ham's ninth of the campaign and left them sitting in 14th place, level on points with Manchester United. They lost on the opening weekend of the season at home to Villa when Jhon Duran scored the winning goal in the second half.

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The Hammers released a statement confirming the move: "West Ham United can confirm that Head Coach Julen Lopetegui has today left the Club.

"The first half of the 2024/25 season has not aligned with the Club’s ambitions and the Club has therefore taken action in line with its objectives.

"The Club can confirm that Assistant Head Coach Pablo Sanz, Head of Performance Oscar Caro, Head Analyst Juan Vicente Peinado, Fitness Coach Borja De Alba and Technical Coach Edu Rubio have also left with immediate effect.

"The Board would like to thank Julen and his staff for their hard work during their time with the Hammers and wish them every success for the future.

"The process of appointing a replacement is underway. The Club will be making no further comment at this time."

Meanwhile, Sky Sports claim Everton are assessing Sean Dyche's position at the club ahead of their next Premier League game, against Villa.

The Friedkin Group bought former Everton owner Farhad Moshiri out just before Christmas. They have won just one of their last 11 Premier League games and in that time they've scored just six goals - four of them came in their only win in that time, over Wolves, and two of those were own goals by Wolves defender Craig Dawson. The Toffees were beaten 1-0 at Bournemouth on Saturday.