Grant evasive on sack speculation

Avram Grant has refused to be drawn on speculation he has managed his last game with West Ham United, despite another loss on Saturday.

Reports in the English media on Friday suggested Grant would be sacked at Upon Park regardless of the result of Saturday’s English Premier League clash with Arsenal and replaced with former Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill.

In any case, a crushing 3-0 loss could hardly have helped the cause of the Hammers’ Israel boss.

Robin van Persie drove an early dagger in West Ham hearts with a goal in the 13th minute, and Theo Walcott made it 2-0 in the shadows of half-time.

Any hopes of salvaging an honourable loss were thwarted by Van Persie in the 77th minute, as he coolly slotted a penalty kick past Robert Green to leave the Hammers stranded once more at the foot of the Premier League table.

When asked if he had just managed his last game with the Hammers, Grant was defiant.

“Why do you ask me this question? Where was these reports (concerning O’Neill)?,” he told Sky Sports.

“You know who gave you the rumours. Ask the person, not ask me. When I will give you something, ask me.”

Grant did little to dampen speculation of his imminent exit by shaking hands with his players, applauding fans and tossing his ‘lucky’ scarf into the stands following the game. But the boss shook off the suggestion he was saying goodbye to West Ham.

“I have done this at the last few games, throw my scarf to the children who are there,” Grant said.

“Today it was emotional to see the reaction of the supporters after the game, we had lost 3-0 and they were so supportive.”

“It was touching to see this, so I did what I did. You need to respect the supporters; that is what I did.”

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger praised his side for stamping their title credentials at West Ham.

“It’s a convincing win. In fact we are on a convincing run in the Premier League, having beat Chelsea, won 3-0 away from home twice and got a convincing 0-0 draw at home to Man City,” Wenger said.

“I think it is in our hands in the fact that we play all the strong teams at home and have a strong run at home after playing away games, so it is down to us.”

“If you look at our results away from home, they are of course a lot better than our results last year and that’s a sign of maturity.”

“Tomorrow there are many big games so we can relax and watch but it will be very interesting as it is a big test for Man United and Tottenham.”

“Overall we had good domination and touched many balls because we have technical ability that came out again today and overall we were consistent, mature and overall convincing.”