• If top-four place looks in doubt manager will make way • Patrick Vieira leads contenders for temporary role • Joe Hart: forget the title, we must target third now

Manchester City are ready to sack Manuel Pellegrini if the club fear Champions League qualification is in danger. There is a recognition that finishing outside the top four will make it particularly difficult to attract the players required for the summer’s rebuild of the squad.

If Pellegrini were removed before the end of the season Patrick Vieira, the elite development squad coach, would be one option to take charge for the remaining games.

City’s 4-2 defeat at Manchester United was a sixth defeat in eight matches. The scale of the slump overseen by Pellegrini has the club in fourth position having been joint-top with Chelsea on New Year’s Day. In the 12 matches since then City have collected 15 points.

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City are four points behind third-placed United, and after Liverpool closed to within four after thier win at Newcastle on Monday night.

Although there is no panic, Sunday’s visit of West Ham United has taken on greater significance. If City were to suffer defeat, the pressure on Pellegrini’s position would increase, especially if the chasing teams have made up more ground.

If City did feel forced into removing Pellegrini before the end of the season, it would follow a precedent set two years ago. Then, after the FA Cup final defeat by Wigan Athletic on 11 May, Roberto Mancini was sacked with two matches of the league season remaining.

Vieira is hugely admired within the club and thought of as a future manager, though there is a sense he may not yet be ready to become the permanent No1. His appointment, if on a temporary basis, would be similar to that of Ryan Giggs, who was made Manchester United interim manager when David Moyes was sacked with four matches left of last season.

City’s No1 candidate is Pep Guardiola but the Bayern Munich coach has said he will serve out a contract that expires in the summer of 2016. Of the other possible contenders Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti was passed over in favour of Pellegrini two years ago and the style of football played by Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid is not considered cultured enough to match City’s aspirations.