David Moyes favourite for Aston Villa manager's job if Tim Sherwood gets...

David Moyes is early favourite to take over the Aston Villa hot-seat as pressure mounts on their current manager Tim Sherwood.

Former Spurs boss Sherwood is fighting to save his job after a run of six defeats in his seven Premier League games since beating promoted Bournemouth on opening day.

Moyes has suffered a similarly difficult start to the campaign at Real Sociedad in Spain, where he has won just one of his last seven La Liga games.

Despite his ill-fated short spell at Manchester United, however, Moyes' stock remains high in this country after his sustained period of success in over a decade with Everton.Villa non-executive director General Charles Krulak has denied Sherwood will be sacked if the club's losing streak continues at Chelsea on Saturday and at home to Swansea next week.

But owner Randy Lerner is dreading a relegation battle for the 18th-placed club.

And there remains serious concern internally over the recruitment policy over the summer and the fact the club have picked up just four points from their opening eight games.

Sherwood accepts he is fighting to save his job – but is still smarting at the club’s summer transfer business.

Lerner is likely to pull the trigger if the hierarchy cannot see a rapid improvement in the performances which have left them in the relegation zone. But it is understood Sherwood has also voiced his frustrations about not being able to land his prime targets.

Under-pressure Sherwood has privately insisted that he believed he had a deal in place for Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon – only for Everton to sign him. That was because Villa voiced concerns about signing Lennon and wanted to go in a different direction.