The short and torturous tenure of Julen Lopetegui ended with West Ham dismissing the manager on Wednesday. Lopetegui leaves after losing nine of his 20 Premier League matches with the Hammers, his side conceding more goals (39) than all but three league clubs. West Ham supporters who clamored for the scalp of David Moyes should have been more careful of what they wished for. His replacement not only failed to deliver results, but he clashed with several players, most publicly with Mohammed Kudus and Jean-Clair Todibo, and had a difficult relationship with Technical Director Tim Steidten. Steidten, who also had his issues with Moyes, could well follow Lopetegui out the door.
Lopetegui, meanwhile, may well be done as a Premier League manager after having previously walked out on Wolverhampton before the beginning of last season due to differences with ownership there. Graham Potter is the replacement for Lopetegui who faced several difficulties not of his own making. The club was shook earlier this season when star Michail Antonio was injured in a horrific car crash which ended his season. More recently, leading scorer Jarrod Bown fractured his ankle and will be out multiple weeks. Potter will take over a club in 14th position, seven points above the drop line despite significant investment this past offseason. The former Brighton and Chelsea manager has been out of action since his termination as Chelsea’s manager in April of 2023. Potter has been biding his time, a luxury of his departing monetary gift from the Blues, and was ironically linked with the England job ultimately taken by the man Potter replaced at Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel. Should Steidten go, there could be a reunion in the cards for Potter and the currently unemployed Dan Ashworth, the technical director who collaborated well with Potter at Brighton but was recently released by Manchester United ownership. 
Graham Potter
Everton, meanwhile, sacked Manager Sean Dyche on Thursday. The Toffees’ new owners, the Friedkin Group, are alarmed at the prospect of relegation and introducing the new Everton stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock with Championship division rather than Premier League football. Dyche’ club had battled valiantly in recent weeks, largely muting opponent attacks but unable to mount a threat of its own. In Dyce’s final match, a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth, the Toffees were unable to mount a single shot on target. Everton scored just one goal across Dyche’s last five Premier League matches in charge of the Toffees. The club dangles just a single point above the relegation line, a perilous position the Friedkin Group deemed worthy of immediate corrective action. In fairness, a poor roster fielded by a financially strapped club has been as much the problem as any deficiency on the part of Dyche who successfully guided the club to safety after a relegation battle last season. Speculation on Dyche’s successor has included names such as Jose Mourinho and the former longtime manager of Everton, David Moyes. Moyes, who concluded a run at West Ham after last season, has previously indicated he did not want a relegation challenge to be his next posting. The prospect of saving his former club and ushering in a new era at Bramley-Moore Dock, of course, might change that thinking.
As sackings dominated the headlines, there was also cup action this week in the Carabao Cup semifinals where the top two Premier League sides lost their opening legs. Both Liverpool and Arsenal not only lost but failed to register a goal. Arsenal were 2-0 losers at home to Newcastle on Tuesday while Liverpool fell 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur the following day. Alexander Isak scored once again for Newcastle, his seventh goal in his last five appearances and 14th in his last 15 matches. Transfer rumors have long linked the center forward with Arsenal though Newcastle will also be surely hearing from other potential suitors offering rich sums for one of the league’s top strikers. Newcastle Manager Eddie Howe, of course, will be doing everything possible to ensure Isak remains a Magpie after the center forward found the net for the 50th time in a Newcastle shirt. Isak’s brilliance on Tuesday more than made up for the absence of suspended Newcastle star Bruno Guimares even though Newcastle had not won a Premier League match this season without Guimares in the lineup.
Tottenham Hotspur has fared poorly in the league but took a step toward cup silverware by defeating Liverpool 1-0 on Wednesday in the opening leg of their semifinal matchup. Liverpool was stung by an 86th minute goal from Spurs’ Lucas Bergvall, one of two 18-year-olds along with Archie Gray in Tottenham Hotspur Manager Ange Postecoglou’s lineup.
The focus of Premier League clubs now shifts to the FA Cup which commands the weekend schedule as league action goes on hiatus. Arsenal, smarting from Tuesday’s Carabao Cup defeat and having dropped points in the Premier League at Brighton last weekend, will try to get a better result in a third competition when the Gunners host Manchester United at the Emirates in the FA Cup’s third round. The matchup at the Emirates is the headliner of FA Cup matches pitting Premier League sides though West Ham Manager Graham Potter will make his debut for the Hammers at Aston Villa.
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