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'Tough moment' for Potter as pressure mounts on West Ham boss

West Ham's under-fire manager Graham Potter admitted that Saturday's 2-1 defeat against Crystal Palace was a "tough moment" as he fights to avoid the sack.

Potter's side are languishing in the Premier League relegation zone after losing four of their five matches this season.

The Hammers also crashed out of the League Cup at bottom of the table Wolves.

Former Chelsea and Brighton boss Potter has won only six of his 25 matches since he took charge in January, with speculation mounting that he could be sacked before West Ham's next match at Everton on September 29.

Former Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo and ex-Wolves manager Gary O'Neil have been linked with Potter's job.

And after a match played out to a backdrop of thousands of fans protesting against Hammers owner David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady at an increasingly mutinous London Stadium, Potter admitted: "It's a tough moment, for sure."

Asked whether he felt he still had the support of the Hammers hierarchy, he replied: "I've no reason to think not.

"But I also understand the environment and the results. But I have no complaints about the support I have had."

Angry fans are demanding change in the boardroom, but Potter is likely to be the fall-guy for West Ham's woes.

Jean-Phillipe Mateta put Palace ahead late in the first half with a goal that exposed West Ham's weakness at set-pieces.

Although Jarrod Bowen equalised soon after the interval, Tyrick Mitchell's blistering strike condemned Potter to another painful loss.

"When you are in a low moment, their left wing-back scores with a right-footed volley," Potter said.

Potter was regarded as a rising managerial star after his impressive work at Brighton, but his reputation was tarnished by a turbulent spell at Chelsea that ended in the sack after less than seven months in charge.

Assailed by chants of "you don't know what you're doing" and "you're getting sacked in the morning" from furious West Ham fans, Potter appeared resigned to his fate as he conceded there was no defence for his team's struggles.

"I didn't hear it," he said. "I understand the frustration, but there's nothing I can say."