'Unlucky' Grant finds that fortune is still hiding at West Ham

The whispers are that Avram Grant has another five games to secure his West Ham future. The first five Premier League matches under his tenure have failed to produce a victory and done nothing to change his reputation as the 'unlucky manager'.

Remember the Israeli was just a penalty shoot-out kick away from winning the Champions League with Chelsea in 2008 before the normally reliable John Terry slipped in the Moscow mud and Manchester United went on to lift the trophy.

More recently, he was in charge of financially stricken Portsmouth when they were relegated last season and lost the FA Cup final to his former club Chelsea after missing a second-half spot-kick at 0-0.

Now, as West Ham prepare to host fifth-placed Tottenham today, Grant can look back on a spectacularly poor league campaign that includes a 3-1 home defeat to Bolton and a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of manager-less Aston Villa. With his feet barely under the table at Upton Park after signing a four-year contract in June, Grant is not expected to last until Christmas.

A 2-1 victory over Sunderland in the League Cup this week - described as 'psychologically important' by the manager - did little to lift the pessimistic mood at the club, which narrowly escaped the drop last season under Gianfranco Zola. Perhaps poignantly, last Saturday's creditable draw at Stoke City was achieved with Grant absent because he was observing the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday.

Grant is by no means a bad coach, and, by all reports, a quiet, dignified and honourable man. But with a limited squad to play with and given the Hammers' financial problems, he is simply a terrible 'fit' for the club.