Saints boss axe talk silly - Lambert

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has branded speculation over the future of Southampton counterpart Nigel Adkins 'ridiculous'.

Adkins' position is apparently in doubt just four games into the Barclays Premier League season. Saints sit bottom of the table having conceded 14 goals in their four defeats so far, despite Adkins being among the country's biggest spenders over the summer. Media speculation and impatient supporters have cast doubt over his job security in the last week, particularly in light of Saints' 6-1 hammering by Arsenal on Saturday. But Villa boss Lambert, whose own side endured a tricky opening few weeks before registering their first win against Swansea a week ago, is sympathetic towards his rival ahead of Saturday's game at St Mary's. "It's getting a bit silly now," he said. "With what he's done for them, and when it's only four games into the season, I think it's a bit ridiculous. But football is like that - you just never know what's around the corner. "It's getting harder and harder every year but I think that's really unfair. Nigel's done a great job at Southampton. In the last few years they have done fantastically well getting promoted twice. "The Premier League is an unforgiving division. Every game is hard, whoever you are playing. It doesn't matter if it's a side in the top six or bottom six. It's a hard, hard league."