Slaven Bilic fighting for his future after West Ham owners sound the alarm

On the face of it, you would think that West Ham would be, if not an oasis of calm, then reasonably untroubled as they approach the remaining seven weeks of the season.

Twelfth in the Premier League with 33 points, they may not yet be statistically safe — but two more wins should do it. Bournemouth and Burnley are the two clubs either side of the Hammers and their managers are routinely admired for what they are achieving.

Yet, as Slaven Bilic prepares for Saturday’s match against Hull, his future at the club appears in some doubt.

READ MORE: Yahoo Sport writers have their say on the battle to beat the drop

READ MORE: Liverpool's Lovren urges Perisic to join Reds

Co-owner David Sullivan felt obliged, following the 3-2 home defeat by Leicester, to apologise to the fans and confirm the next three matches, at Hull, Arsenal and at home to Swansea, are “vital”, a warning taken by many to mean Bilic’s team must pick up points in that trio of games for him to avoid the sack.

There is no doubt that, as far as this season is concerned, every silver lining has a cloud. In early December West Ham were as low as 17th in the table yet, by the beginning of February, they were as high as ninth.

Since then, they have again faltered. Their defensive frailties are worrying, with just three teams, Swansea, Hull and Bournemouth, having conceded more goals this season.

West Ham have failed to keep a clean sheet in their past eight Premier League games, the joint worst record with Leicester, and they have failed to win in their last five matches, with only two teams — Middlesbrough (11) and Burnley (six) doing worse.

Those are the sort of statistics which worry owners and you can see why Sullivan and his co-chairman David Gold would be looking for a minimum of two wins from their next four matches, three of which are against teams in the bottom four in Hull, Swansea and Sunderland.

Sullivan and Gold would usually acknowledge that six consecutive Premier League defeats is unsustainable, yet there is no great enthusiasm to make a managerial change.

The pair, plus vice-chairman Karren Brady, normally prefer to allow their managers’ contracts to run their natural course, even when, in the case of Avram Grant in 2010-2011, they take the club down. This, though, is not a normal season for either West Ham — or their manager.

Moving home is invariably stressful, especially when you have become as accustomed to your old one as Hammers’ fans had with the Boleyn Ground, but the London Stadium has presented a myriad of well-documented challenges.

Bilic, standing alone and hardly within shouting distance of the rest of his coaching staff, has sometimes looked an isolated figure during matches yet his team have been in the new place long enough not to make it an excuse for their troubles.

In addition to the big move, the first-team squad have also transferred to a new training facility at Rush Green, which has perhaps only added to their temporary instability.

READ MORE: Gossip - Real Madrid plot £100m Hazard bid, Sanchez to Munich?

READ MORE: Manchester United transfer plan revealed

Last summer’s player recruitment has been as disappointing as the previous season’s was good and almost immediately they were forced to endure a debilitating succession of injuries that would have tested all but the most resilient of clubs.

Then, if all that wasn’t enough, there was Dimitri Payet. Audaciously brilliant in his first season, he looked distracted from the moment he returned to London after starring for France at Euro 2016.

Yes, he still did things on the ball which left you breathless with admiration but — as for helping out his team-mates when they were under pressure — forget it.

Bilic accommodated Payet for as long as he could but squad morale was beginning to suffer and the situation boiled over when the player himself refused to play for the team again.

The Croatian went public, perhaps against the owners’ wishes — and West Ham’s best player eventually returned to his former club, Marseille.

Things looked brighter, however, following his departure with Argentine Manuel Lanzini taking on Payet’s playmaker role and to be fair, goals have never been a major problem this season, despite continuing injury problems for Andy Carroll, Andre Ayew and now — Michail Antonio.

Points per game

The Hammers head the bottom half of the table

1) West Ham: 1.86
2) Burnley: 1.5
3) Watford: 1.5
4) Sunderland: 1.45
5) Leicester: 1.43
6) Swansea: 1.36
7) Bournemouth: 1.29
8) Middlesbrough: 1.23
9) Crystal Palace: 1.20
10) Hull: 1.15

In fact, for those next four matches, Bilic could well be without his spine with Antonio, central midfielder Pedro Obiang and centre-half Winston Reid all out through injury.

Yet the vast majority of West Ham fans believe Bilic should be cut some slack. His first season in charge ended with the team in seventh and that unforgettable final game at Upton Park, the 3-2 win over Manchester United.

Those supporters who felt his predecessor, Sam Allardyce, never did get the ‘West Ham way’, have understood and appreciated much more Bilic’s more expansive style of management.

Even in those heady, halcyon days of Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking and Billy Bonds, the Hammers were capable of beating — and being beaten — by anyone.

This is a different time, though, and although Bilic deservedly has credit in the bank, the prospect of relegation would be unthinkable for a club who have a 60,000-seat stadium to fill on a regular basis.

Which is why, as Sullivan says, the next three games for West Ham, are “vital.”