Manuel Pellegrini: West Ham boss sure he has backing of board and players

Manuel Pellegrini previously managed Real Madrid, Malaga and Manchester City

West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini says he still has the backing of the board and players despite being one point above the Premier League relegation zone.

The Hammers are 16th after 16 games and Monday's 3-1 defeat by Arsenal was their seventh defeat in nine matches.

Some people within the club believe Pellegrini, 66, could be sacked if the Hammers lose away to 18th-placed Southampton in the league on Saturday.

"Maybe I'm not in my job on Monday," said the Chilean.

"That's not a problem of the job - the problem is to try to improve what you're doing because we don't have the results."

Pellegrini added it was "not normal" for his side, who finished 10th last season, to have picked up only five points in their last 10 Premier League games.

"That's why I know that the owners trust what we are doing because with another owner you may have been sacked before," he said.

There have already been five managers sacked this season - Mauricio Pochettino, Unai Emery and Marco Silva leaving Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton respectively, while Watford have fired both Javi Gracia and his replacement Quique Sanchez Flores.

Pellegrini said that sometimes teams could change managers "too soon" and that it is "important to have a cool mentality and trust the manager you brought."

He added that his players are still behind him, having impressed in victory over Chelsea last month.

"I don't think that if you see this team play two games ago against Chelsea that you can say players are not listening," he said.