BILIC: FOUR MATCHES TO SAVE HIS JOB

Irons reluctant to wield axe but Slaven’s out if results don’t improve back on home turf

UNDER-FIRE West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has been given four more Premier League games to save his skin.

The Irons are bottom of the table on zero points after conceding 10 goals in their first three games.

And the former Croatia coach has been told that results must improve when the east Londoners finally open their home campaign early next month.

Bilic yesterday held his usual post-match debriefing with co-owner David Sullivan to talk over the weekend loss at Newcastle – and discuss ways to turn the season around.

West Ham have played their first four matches away from home after the World Athletics Championships were staged at the London Stadium earlier this month.

But starting with newlypromoted Huddersfield on Monday, September 11, the Hammers will play three home Premier League games in September, with Tottenham and Swansea also visiting.

They also play at West Brom and have a home Carabao Cup tie against Bolton before the next international break.

Mirror Sport revealed last week that the West Ham board began looking at alternatives to Bilic, who is in the last year of his contract, after the 3-2 defeat at Southampton in the second week of the season.

The Irons are reluctant sackers and kept faith with Sam Allardyce and even Avram Grant during troubled times. And there is sympathy for Bilic because he’s the season with three away Premier League games as well as deal with a pre-season injury to key man Manuel Lanzini.

But the winless start is a worrying continuation of West Ham’s poor form towards the end of last season.

Bilic’s side lost five straight matches in the spring and finished the season with only three wins in the last 14 games.

This summer there was no Europa League qualifying round to negotiate and West Ham had a better transfer window, but the results have not improved, with record signing Marko Arnautovic sent off in his second game.

After Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Newcastle, Bilic, who is still trying to reach an agreement for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho, admitted: “It’s not about the transfer window. OK, we were looking for one more player, but we had done a good job on paper in the transfer window.

“We put together a good squad which looked good enough to have a good season. It’s still early, but we didn’t look good as a team.”