Alan Pardew will on Monday hold talks with the West Bromwich Albion board about his future as manager as he seeks to establish whether the club will persevere with him in the short term or respond to a seventh successive defeat and growing unrest among fans by terminating his contract before the next game, at Bournemouth on Saturday.

Although Pardew has no intention of resigning, he sounded as if he was almost anticipating the sack in the wake of the 4-1 defeat at home against Leicester City on Saturday. Pardew acknowledged the situation at the Premier League’s bottom club had become so bleak that he needed to speak to Albion’s hierarchy “because they might think a change is a better thing for the club”. Those discussions are expected to take place with Mark Jenkins, the chief executive, at the club’s training ground.

Albion now find themselves in a difficult position in more ways than one, with the club anxious to avoid making a managerial change for the second time this season, partly because of the financial implications but largely as there are no credible alternatives, internally or externally, to take over from Pardew with only eight fixtures left and relegation looking a formality.

Yet life at the Hawthorns under Pardew is now so desperate that the club’s board could well be forced to act, regardless. Albion have won only one of the manager’s 16 league matches in charge, collecting only eight points in the process, and it is hard to see life improving after Pardew publicly criticised the players for showing a lack of fight in the final 20 minutes against Leicester.

He also accused Grzegorz Krychowiak of behaving disrespectfully after the midfielder refused to shake his hand when he was substituted in the second half.

The challenge for Albion if they do decide to dismiss Pardew, who took over from Tony Pulis at the end of November, is to identify a replacement to steer the club through the final two months of the season before making a long-term appointment in the summer. Either way, it feels like a matter of when, not if, Pardew leaves.