Stoke City manager Mark Hughes has denied he has one game to save his job.
The Potters are 16th in the Premier League with just one win in eight games as they prepare to host West Brom.
Some media reports have said Hughes, who joined the club in 2013, must win on Saturday or he will be sacked.
“I don’t think that is where we are at. A lot of comments come from people who have not watched our games – they are picking up hearsay and embellishing it,” Hughes said.
“You guys in the media set timelines on it but that is not what is happening in the corridors here in my view,” added the 54-year-old Welshman.
A seventh departure? Or reprieve from local owner?
Stoke have conceded 39 goals this season – a Premier League high – but Hughes said injuries have prevented him picking a consistent back four.
The former Wales manager also claims his side has been “hurt by referee decisions”, pointing to a penalty award which gave West Ham the lead in their 3-1 win at Stoke last week and later saw Manuel Lanzini banned for diving.
Hughes is odds-on favourite to be the next Premier League manager to leave his post and has said anxiety from supporters is “understandable”.
However, he feels his position is strengthened by Stoke-born club owner Peter Coates being heavily involved on a day-to-day basis.
“The owners and everyone connected with the club are fully informed,” Hughes added. “They come to the game themselves. They are here every week. They are not in some far-off land watching on TV.
“They are around the club every single day. They are at the coal face. They would sense if something needs to change. It doesn’t.”
Should Hughes be sacked, he would become the seventh Premier League manager to depart his job before Christmas, equalling the record set in both 2004 and 2007.
