Slaven Bilic’s position as West Ham United manager is reportedly under pressure ahead of a daunting run of games for the London Stadium club.

The Telegraph is claiming the club has already started to consider alternatives to the 48-year-old Croatian, with Eddie Howe, Roberto Mancini, Rudi Garcia and Rafa Benitez all in the frame to take over.

Saturday’s crushing 3-2 defeat against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur left West Ham 17th in the Premier League, just a point above safety.

With Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool making up the Hammers’ next three league opponents, the club’s hierarchy are concerned they could fall further down the table ahead of the Christmas period.

Results on the pitch have mirrored a testing start to life at West Ham’s new stadium and fans discontent about the move has only been fuelled by United’s poor form.

Bilic’s summer transfer dealings have also been called into question as the likes of £20m man Andre Ayew, Simone Zaza and Arthur Masuaku have all failed to hit the ground running.

Decision makers at West Ham are said to be willing to back their manager in the January transfer window in order to arrest the club’s slide.

The decision facing them is whether to trust Bilic to spend said funds or look to appoint a new manager before the turn of the year.

Both Howe and Benitez represent attractive options, with the latter in the running to take over at West Ham before joining Real Madrid in the summer of 2015.

However, it is thought that both would turn down any advances to remain at Bournemouth and Newcastle United respectively.

Mancini may offer a more viable choice as he is currently out of work after being sacked by Inter Milan earlier this year.