Who will be the first manager to leave in the Premier League?

During the 2015/16 Premier League season, we saw thirteen managerial changes. With the start of the season approaching in five days, we have already seen Sam Allardyce and Steve Bruce leave Sunderland and Hull respectively before the season has begun. With clubs changing managers more frequently, we are expecting to see several more managerial changes. We take a look at the odds of fiver managers we believe are in danger before the season has begun.

West Brom are currently in talks with The Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited Group about a potential takeover. They claim to be happy with the current coaching staff but, as we all know a takeover often leads to changes and the manager is often the first casualty. The fans are rumoured not to be too impressed with the style of football which Pulis plays, even though they are an established Premier League team with him. He is currently installed as the favourite with several bookmakers to be the next manager to leave.

After an impressive season in the Premier League under Quique Flores, Watford finished thirteenth but the owners expected more and Flores left the club by mutual consent at the end of last season. On 21st May, Watford confirmed that they had reached an agreement with Walter Mazzarri to become the manager on a three-year contract. Mazzarri has never managed outside of Italy, his two previous clubs were Napoli and Inter Milan and he will have to adapt quickly if he is to succeed here. The owners have shown us already that they want results and are ruthless if things aren’t going correctly.

Guidolin was only appointed the manager of Swansea in January and the bookmakers think his time will be up sooner rather than later. He arrived at the Liberty Stadium as an unknown quantity but he did enough in the second half of the season to earn himself a two year deal. With Ashley Williams and Andre Ayew futures uncertain, the departure of two key players would be a massive blow to the club and it could be one that gets Guidolin the sack if results aren’t coming in quickly.

Since joining Middlesbrough in 2013, Karanka has guided them back into the Premier League and has been instrumental in his time at the club. Karanka considered his future at the club in March after a training ground bust-up but he returned a few days later. With the bookmakers having noticed this, they believe that the relationship between the manager and the board isn’t the greatest and they make Karanka one of the favourites to be the first manager to leave.

Pardew started last season strongly with Crystal Palace but a disappointing start to 2016 led to fourteen games without victory in the league which ruined any hope of a top 10 finish. He managed to reach the final of the FA Cup despite their terrible league form, which many people believe saved him the sack. If Pardew doesn’t start the season well then he will come under threat, the board have invested heavily into the squad over the last twelve months and if they don’t see an early improvement on their league form, odds of 14/1 will quickly change.