Premier League: Sunderland boss a Pardew ally in Sack Race

Gus Poyet was disappointed by Sunderland's summer business

Michael Lintorn wonders if Gus Poyet could save Newcastle counterpart Alan Pardew from being the next manager to leave...

With a charge sheet including touchline indiscretions, dour football, one Premier League win in 11 and getting rid of Hatem Ben Arfa, it isn't a great surprise that Newcastle's Alan Pardew appears as the 3.39/4 favourite in the Premier League Next Manager To Leave market.

The artist formerly known as Pardiola's closest competition is judged to be West Ham boss Sam Allardyce at 3.55/2, West Brom head coach Alan Irvine at 3.9n/a, QPR chief Harry Redknapp at 6.86/1 and Aston Villa opinion divider Paul Lambert at 8.415/2.

The notable absentee from the list of frontrunners is Sunderland dugout general Gus Poyet, who is a chunky 16.015/1.

Sure, his work so far warrants commending rather than criticism having saved them from what should have been certain relegation after being bottom at Christmas last term. However, there are a number of reasons to suspect that he is the value candidate.

The first is the Sunderland factor, as the journey from messiah to no-longer-required is particularly rapid on Wearside: see Roy Keane, Martin O'Neill and Paolo Di Canio for proof. They made mid-season managerial changes in all of the past three campaigns, acting by the end of November in two.

A run of four Premier League matches without a win dating back to last May, two of those against projected strugglers West Brom and QPR, suggests that the Uruguayan is already feeling the force of the established pattern.

Another is Poyet's pie hole, as the man nicknamed "Radio" while playing at Real Zaragoza owing to his talkativeness doesn't come equipped with a sugar-coat option.

His willingness to publicly discuss subjects that he might be better staying silent or sticking to soundbites on led to him recently questioning the Black Cats' work in the summer transfer market.

He said: "It's very easy to say that I'm happy because then everybody will be delighted with my words, but at the same time, I am not happy. I am all right.

"We were expecting to have a certain number of players. We were very close to doing a couple of very important things; we didn't do it. Then we changed slightly and we got different players.

"We tried. We tried our best and what we got was the best we could do. I don't want really to reflect on how it went because it's not fair."

There is previous for Poyet leaving a club in mysterious circumstances amidst on-field success. He was suspended and later sacked by first employers Brighton in May 2013, who he lifted from 20th in League One to fourth in the Championship in three-and-a-half years.

It was also noticeable that there was an unusual amount of speculation about Poyet and Sunderland separating in pre-season despite such an encouraging start, hinting that the relationship is more fragile than it should be.

Recommended Bet: Back Gus Poyet to be next manager to leave @ 16.015/1