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With six Premier League teams still looking for their first win, things are hotting up in the sack race. Adam Bate looks at the managers under pressure in the coming weeks

Southampton’s emphatic 4-1 win over Aston Villa at the weekend was enough to lift Nigel Adkins’ men out of the Premier League drop zone – but Adkins himself is still favourite in the sack race.

The Saints began the season with four straight defeats and with a daunting trip to Everton next up it would seem that much will hinge on a home game against Fulham before the international break.

Adkins has guided Southampton to back-to-back promotions and many outside the club would consider it ludicrous that there is any question of the manager leaving.

But expectations are believed to be high in the Saints boardroom – as shown by the club record acquisition of Gaston Ramirez – and they are likely to act if results deteriorate at St Mary’s.

Adkins is the 9/4 (3.25) favourite with William Hill to be the next Premier League manager to lose his job.

Another man under pressure is QPR boss Mark Hughes after spending vast sums on transfers and wages in the summer.

The QPR website was effusive in its praise of “global phenomenon” Park Ji-sung and “two-time Champions League winner” Jose Bosingwa but early season results have been poor.

Tony Fernandes is a passionate owner and has already shown he can be trigger-happy after dismissing Neil Warnock.

Hughes will be confident of getting results against West Ham and West Brom in the coming weeks but should he fail then expect that price of 5/1 (6.00) with William Hill to start to tumble.

Elsewhere in the betting, the grumbles about Sam Allardyce at the Hammers as well as Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas refuse to go away despite decent results on the pitch.

It wouldn’t take a significant downturn on the field for the campaign to build against the London-based pair – Allardyce is at 7/1 (8.00) and Villas-Boas 8/1 (9.00) to be next for the chop.

But for the value options consider two men who are still without a Premier League win in charge of their new clubs.

Brendan Rodgers has said the right things off the pitch and performances on it have been encouraging. But the scorelines are a problem – Liverpool have made their worst start in 101 years.

If Rodgers is unable to turn that around in October then the mood on Merseyside will change very quickly, making the 10/1 (11.00) price with William Hill look chunky.

But the real value could be in weighing up Chris Hughton’s future at Norwich.

Following Paul Lambert was always likely to be tough and Canaries fans will fear the worst with games against Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal next up.

Lose that lot and it’s three points from eight games for Hughton in the Carrow Road hotseat – making the price of 14/1 (15.00) the pick of the bets in this market.

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Adam Bate is a professional freelance journalist who specialises in football and betting. He is editor of GhostGoal which can be found here - you can also follow Adam on

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