West Ham United joint-owner, David Sullivan, has virtually signalled the end of Franco Zola’s first management job in football.

The owner has come out in the media during recent days and blasted the performance of the side and of the manager. It leaves Zola in a virtually impossible situation as he is clearly losing the faith of those who control the club.

Sullivan has called many of the team’s recent performances pathetic, which was capped off by the heavy home defeat at the hands of Wolves, who are also struggling.

Relegation for West Ham would have a tremendous blow on the side and could be one, which they struggle to recover from. Sullivan has already said the side should not be close to any of the relegation slots.

He said: “We will see what he is made of in the next few games. If he wins the next seven games [which begin with Stoke City at home tomorrow] he looks like the best manager of all time. If he loses them he’s the worst manager of all time.”

“We need this team to show us their talent, their desire, their passion, their dare. When I first started supporting West Ham, we had a tradition for playing the game ‘the right way’. I will settle for any way right now, as long as it is the winning way!”

“Nobody at the club should delude themselves that we are a good team. The table at this stage of the season does not lie. I accept that the club is in deep relegation trouble. However, we are a long way from being relegated. With some of the outstanding players we have, we can and must do better as a team.”

Key player, Matthew Upson, added: “If David Sullivan wants to air his views in public then he’s entitled to, he’s the chairman. I wouldn’t say, from a player’s point of view, that it helps, but we only concentrate on what the coaches and manager want us to do. They’re the people we want to listen to. Everything else is pretty irrelevant.”

West Ham have now reached the stage where they will have to scrap and fight for every single point they can get their hands on. How they react in the days to come will determine where the club ends up by the end of the season.

Any manager will say that when a high ranking official at a club comes out and starts virtually having a go at the gaffer, it puts the boss of the team in a difficult situation. This is because it undermines the manager’s authroity over the side.

If the players start to listen more and more to what Sullivan says, they will start to think that Zola is no good and therefore they will not be as willing to bust a gut for the manager in order to save the club.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger

Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, has confirmed what all Arsenal fans were probably afraid to hear.

The Frenchman has said that his side must not drop another point in the current Premier League campaign if they want to have any chance of getting their Premier League crown back.

Arsenal have been well in the spotlight and many have said that is about time they are taken more seriously. The club have surprised many this year with the way they have hung onto the coat tails of Manchester United and Chelsea.

Wenger said: “There are three teams in the race and it is down to the team who are the most consistent. We can only focus on our own performances. We know our route has to be perfect. To be perfect it is important we focus on our performances.”

“We need some help from the other teams, but we know that will only work if we are consistent and keep our momentum. We have created a fantastic momentum and we have created a great belief within our squad. The consistency of our run is the most important.”

“We want to keep the spirit, the hunger, the desire and the intelligence we have shown until now. For a long time we have fixed ourselves targets. We play every game like our life depends on it and it has been like that for a long time now.”

“We need to bring consistency to our attitude. We have a remarkable attitude, a remarkable spirit in the team, and must just continue like we do.”

Arsenal’s chances of not losing a single point will have been helped by the fact they have the easiest run in on paper. However, no game is easy when the business end of the season arrives.

Wenger will know better than anyone that his side have to prepare for each game in exactly the right way. Teams will want to take points from Arsenal in order to improve their own situations.

This means the club may have to rely on one or two results going their way if they are to win the league. If they keep things tight at their own end, then they will be giving themselves the best possible chance of success.

The club haven’t been helped by the fact that injuries to key players have kept them out of the Arsenal side for long periods of time. On the other hand this has meant chances for fringe players in the Arsenal squad, who have clearly proved they are good enough to compete at the very highest level.

Will Arsenal fail to drop a single point? It’s highly unlikely. Then again it is equally unlikely that the other title contenders won’t drop a single point. End of season football has a strange way of working and no one will know that better than the managers of England’s best sides.