Wolves fires Pereira with Wanderers in last place in the Premier League after 10 games without a win

Wolverhampton Wanderers, the Premier League’s last-placed team, fired manager Vitor Pereira on Sunday after a winless start to the season.

Pereira joined Wolves in December when the team was in next-to-last place in the league, secured its survival in the lucrative top flight by April and was handed a new three-year contract in September.

However, Wolves has entered November with just two points after 10 games in the Premier League, having lost eight times and drawn twice. Pereira’s final game in charge was a 3-0 loss at Fulham on Saturday.

“Results and performances this term have fallen below acceptable standards, and as a result a change in leadership was deemed necessary,” Wolves said in a statement.

Wolves executive chairman Jeff Shi said when giving Pereira a new deal that “now is a time for stability.”

Yet six weeks later, Pereira has gone.

“Vitor and his team worked tirelessly for Wolves and helped guide us through a challenging period last season, for which we are grateful,” Shi said.

“Unfortunately, the start to this season has been a disappointment and, despite our strong desire to give the head coach time and matches to find an improvement, we have reached a point where we must make a change. We thank Vitor and his staff for their efforts and wish them the very best for the future.”

All eight of Pereira’s backroom staff have also left the club, Wolves said.

Under-21 coach James Collins and under-18 coach Richard Walker will take training while Wolves finalizes the appointment of a new manager.

Wolves’ next game is at Chelsea in the league on Saturday.

Pereira’s preparations for the season were affected by Wolves selling arguably its best two players from the last campaign, Brazil striker Matheus Cunha to Manchester United and left back Rayan Ait-Nouri to Manchester City.

Wolves’ main striker, Jørgen Strand Larsen, also missed the start of the season because of a mixture of injury and the effects of being linked with a move to Newcastle in preseason.

It led to Wolves losing its first five league games of the season, its first point only coming in a draw at Tottenham in the last weekend of September.

Pereira was involved in a heated exchange with Wolves’ fans after a 3-2 home loss to Burnley last weekend, where sections of the crowd chanted: “You’re getting sacked in the morning.”

Wolves has conceded more goals than any other team (22) and no team has scored fewer goals than its seven.

Wolves also was eliminated from the English League Cup by Chelsea in midweek.