Pressure monuts on Alan Pardew

Premiership soccer champions Manchester City tomorrow.
With the season nearing the halfway mark, Pardew is among a handful of coaches including City’s Roberto Mancini and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger who are already feeling the heat. Pardew was rewarded with an eight-year contract earlier in the season in an effort to bring stability to a club more used to the spinning mayhem of the managerial merry-go-round.

The deal was in recognition of the fact that the former West Ham United boss had steered the north east club to fifth place in the Premier League last term while making the most of a limited transfer budget.

The close-season optimism that he could propel his charges to the promised land of the Champions League has evaporated as this season has progressed and after one league win in seven matches, they find themselves 14th and two points above the drop zone. — Soccernet.