Fulham are facing the prospect of losing their opening four Premier League games of the new season this weekend, which would spell bad news for Alvaro Arbeloa.
The Spaniard is fast emerging as the frontrunner to become the Premier League's first managerial casualty of the new season.
A winless start to the campaign has plunged Fulham into crisis, leaving the former Real Madrid interim boss fighting to salvage both his authority and his job ahead of a weekend trip to face Liverpool.
Alvaro Arbeloa on the brink at Fulham
Having replaced Marco Silva over the summer, Arbeloa was heavily backed by the club's board during the transfer window.
The 43-year-old tapped directly into his former employer to reshape the squad, securing moves for Real Madrid trio Cesar Palacios, Gonzalo Garcia, and Manuel Angel.
However, due to Arbeloa’s tactical tweaks and, on the surface at least, a clear preference for his ex-Bernabeu recruits, he has alienated established figures within the squad.
Alex Iwobi has found himself displaced from his natural wide role and redeployed into central midfield, a move widely understood to accommodate Palacios on the wing.
Meanwhile, £34 million midfielder Emile Smith Rowe has seemingly been marginalised, featuring off the bench for a combined total of just 25 Premier League minutes across Fulham's three opening defeats.
Internal friction is growing with Brazilian winger Kevin, too. As reported by Saturday White Fever, Fulham find themselves with an ultimatum just four weeks in to the new season.
Kevin, the club's record signing, and Arbeloa are believed to have fallen out over the ex-Shakhtar Donetsk man's playing time. He has accumulated a mere 24 league minutes this term, and was left as an unused substitute during last weekend’s loss to Crystal Palace.
The immediate aftermath of that Palace defeat saw Kevin take to social media to post a cryptic message which read: ‘no speak, no hear, no see’. This post has been universally interpreted as a protest against Arbeloa’s team selection and possibly his management style, too.
It is now understood that Kevin is expected to seek an exit from Craven Cottage during the January transfer window unless the board opts to dismiss Arbeloa before then.
Alarmingly, the discontent is not isolated to one individual, either. In what appears to be a coordinated effort, both Iwobi and Smith Rowe have scrubbed their official Instagram accounts clean, wiping all historical posts depicting them in Fulham colours.
With a dismal record heading to Anfield, Arbeloa's gamble and squad management has backed him into a corner.
Should Fulham suffer another damaging defeat against Liverpool, or if the team produces another lifeless display, the board may be forced to act.
The manner of performance on Merseyside could well prove terminal for the manager's brief tenure in West London.
