Nigel Adkins: 'I am favourite to be sacked'

Southampton manager Nigel Adkins has admitted that he is the favourite to become the first Premier League manager to be fired this season.

The 47-year-old was speaking following the Saints' 2-0 away defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Monday that sees them remain rooted to the foot of the table.

"Someone is always going to be the favourite to be sacked and if you're bottom of the league, you should be the favourite probably," he is quoted as saying by the BBC.

"I'm not going to hide away from that. But what a great challenge we face."

However, Adkins is confident that Southampton can turn around their poor run of results.

"We're going to embrace [the challenge] with positivity," he said. "If I don't believe we can do it, then the players aren't going to believe we can do it.

"We've played eight of the top 10. I'm looking forward to the fixtures we've got coming up."

Southampton have picked up just four points from 10 matches so far this season, as many as Queens Park Rangers.