Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has been given three games to save his job at Villa Park.
What's the talk?
That's according to a report by Football Insider, who claim that an Aston Villa source has revealed that the 50-year-old will fighting to keep his job should Villa not improve on their results achieved so far this season in the next three fixtures.
The report goes on to state that the former Brentford manager must improve the club's current 12th place league position prior to the next international break, with Premier League games against Everton, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur coming up for Villa in this period.
Big mistake
Considering the improvement Aston Villa made under Smith last season in comparison to their return to the Premier League in the campaign prior, with the club's league finish jumping from 17th place to 11th place, in addition to the fact that the 50-year-old's numerous summer signings are still very much in the process of settling into the club, if the report by Football Insider is to be believed, Christian Purslow could be heading for a big mistake.
While it is true that Villa's form in the Premier League tailed off following the turn of the year last season, the club nevertheless made magnificent strides towards establishing themselves as a top-half team, something which, it should not be underestimated, is an incredibly difficult challenge.
Furthermore, having sold club captain and talisman Jack Grealish this summer, Smith is currently overseeing something of a rebuild at Villa Park, with the exciting summer signings of Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey, Danny Ings very much still getting to grips with their new manager's tactical demands and philosophy - something which will naturally take time.
As such, changing the manager at such an early stage of the season - particularly as, while results have not been the best, they are far from disastrous - after giving him a substantial amount of money to spend this summer would seem to be a big mistake on the part of Purslow, who could be doing the club's top 10 chances this season more harm than good by sacking Smith.
In other news: Insider drops claim on "outstanding" £50k-p/w beast, it'll be music to AVFC fans' ears