West Ham sack Lopetegui

West Ham have sacked boss Julen Lopetegui, with former Brighton and Chelsea coach Graham Potter expected to take his place.

Lopetegui leaves with the Hammers sitting 14th in the Premier League with 23 points from 20 matches, following a 4-1 defeat by Manchester City on Saturday.

West Ham won just seven games under Lopetegui in all competitions, suffering 10 defeats and drawing the other five matches.

The former Spain and Real Madrid coach succeeded David Moyes in May 2024. It was his second job in English football, having also managed Wolves between November 2022 and August 2023.

However, he struggled to win over the Hammers faithful from the start, with the side's pragmatic style of play coming under scrutiny after Lopetegui was allowed to spend almost £120million on players including Max Kilman, Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Fullkrug and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

A club statement read: "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."

West Ham United can confirm that Head Coach Julen Lopetegui has today left the Club.

— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 8, 2025

Widespread reports have claimed Potter, who has been out of work since he was fired by Chelsea in April 2023, will be appointed as Lopetegui's successor within the next 24 hours.

The Spaniard was reportedly on the brink of being sacked before a win against his former side Wolves on December 9 triggered a four-match unbeaten run.

However, a 5-0 defeat by Liverpool to end 2024 and the loss to City last weekend led to his departure, less than five months after first taking charge of the side.

Saturday's loss was West Ham's sixth league defeat by a margin of three or more goals this season, more than any other side.

They have also only netted 24 league goals, and have underperformed their 29.1 expected goals (xG), with that -5.1 underperformance being the fourth-worst in the division this term.

West Ham's next game is an FA Cup third-round tie at Aston Villa on Friday, before Fulham visit the London Stadium in the Premier League next Tuesday.