Roy Hodgson's future at Fulham is under surprise scrutiny after Croatia coach Slaven Bilic was spotted in the director's box at Craven Cottage during Saturday's defeat to Arsenal.

The Times says Hodgson replaced Lawrie Sanchez as the manager of the struggling club three weeks ago, but Fulham have lost three league matches in a row since his appointment and his team's spineless performance in the 3-0 home defeat by Arsenal on Saturday has fuelled rumours that Bilic could become the club's fourth manager in a year if results do not improve.

Bilic was in England last weekend to check on Croatia players such as Eduardo da Silva, the Arsenal striker, and Vedran Corluka, the Manchester City defender, before this summer's European Championship finals, but tongues started wagging after he was spotted sitting one seat away from Mohamed Al Fayed, the Fulham chairman. Fayed has invested more than £150 million since he bought the club ten years ago and he is not the kind of man who will allow his team to go down without a fight.

Hodgson has been given about £10 million to spend this month, but it remains to be seen how Fayed will react if Fulham are knocked out of the FA Cup by Bristol Rovers this evening and if they fail to pick up any points from their next three league matches - away to Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough and at home to Aston Villa.