Sack race! Time surely up for Roy Hodgson and Avram Grant after humiliating defeats

By ALEX KAY FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated: 01:54 EST, 6 January 2011

Roy Hodgson and Avram Grant are on the brink of being sacked after humiliating defeats for Liverpool and West Ham.

Hodgson’s Reds lost 3-1 at Blackburn, with their own fans chanting ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ and Steven Gerrard missing a penalty late on.

The Liverpool faithful did not take up their full allocation at Ewood Park and Hodgson said later: ‘My job? I’m not prepared to talk about that, I am depressed enough about the performance.’

Time up: Roy Hodgson and Avram Grant both suffered humiliating defeats away from home

Asked about his feelings after the defeat Hodgson said: 'Dejection, bitter disappointment, frustration. I am very disappointed for the fans who gave us good support and saw the team concede the goals we did.

'I thought in the second half we did well to retrieve a seemingly hopeless situation and get back on track and had Steven's penalty gone in who knows, we may have made the last five minutes more exciting.

Another night of pain: Fernando Torres looks distraught during the defeat at Blackburn

'Unfortunately when you are Liverpool and you lose away to Blackburn there is nothing that can be said which will put a positive slant or make the situation look any brighter.

'As far as I am concerned it is a really bad day and there is not much more I can say other than, to the fans, that anything they are feeling tonight I can assure them the feeling is equally as bad and equally as depressed in the dressing room.'

Grant’s West Ham slumped to the bottom of the Barclays Premier League with a 5-0 hammering at Newcastle, managed by ex-Upton Park boss Alan Pardew.

Out of ideas: Carlo Ancelotti must arrest Chelsea's worrying slump, or likely lose his job

The Israeli insisted: ‘We were in a worse position one month ago. It’s where we are at the end of the season that matters.’

On a dramatic night which saw title-chasing Arsenal and Manchester City share a goalless draw at the Emirates, there were damaging defeats for Chelsea’s Carlo Ancelotti, away to lowly Wolves, and Aston Villa’s Gerard Houllier, at home to Sunderland.

Ancelotti insists he remains the right man to lead Chelsea out of their current slump.

'I don't fear (for my job). I'm worried because the team doesn't reach the result. I think it's obvious we are not good enough in this moment.

'But the team has the skill, the ability, the character, the personality to move on. It's important to stay compact, to stay together and to work hard for each other.'