• Relegated Portsmouth will not seek compensation for manager
• Hammers owners indicate they are keen to strengthen squad

Avram Grant has edged closer to taking up the reins at West Ham United after Portsmouth indicated they would not seek any compensation should the Israeli desire a move to Upton Park.

Portsmouth’s administrator, Andrew Andronikou, met with Grant last night to discuss his future with the relegated FA Cup finalists, with whom the manager still has two years to run on his contract. The 55-year-old could not be persuaded to stay and indicated he would favour a move to West Ham, where he is expected to sign a three-year contract worth around £1.3m, after the dismissal of Gianfranco Zola last week.

No formal approach has yet been made by the Londoners to Portsmouth, though that is anticipated to come later today, with Grant the club’s preferred candidate on a four-man shortlist to take over at Upton Park. The joint owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, issued a statement earlier today insisting an appointment of a “high-calibre manager with the necessary experience to deliver good football and, most importantly, results” would “be made with enough time to prepare for pre-season”.

Grant is expected to make the Everton striker Yakubu Ayegbeni his first signing for around £7m, with two players with whom he worked at Fratton Park – Kevin-Prince Boateng and the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara – also on a wishlist of potential new recruits.

Gold and Sullivan added in their statement their intention to strengthen a squad that finished only 17th under Zola last term. “For too long, the focus has been on players leaving rather than arriving,” they said. “We will strengthen in the right areas to ensure an exciting and balanced squad that is well placed to cope with the rigours of the Premier League season.”

The London club had identified Grant, the Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce, Blackpool’s Ian Holloway and Dave Jones of Cardiff City – the last two go head to head in the Championship play-offs final on Saturday – as their managerial targets, after the likes of Mark Hughes and Steve McClaren distanced themselves from a possible move to the Boleyn Ground. McClaren has since swapped FC Twente, where he had won the Dutch league, for the Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.

Grant has been championed by the agents Pini Zahavi and Barry Silkman, who is close to Sullivan, with his achievement in steering Pompey to the FA Cup final having impressed his suitors. The Israeli, for his part, is willing to work with West Ham’s often outspoken joint owners, having emerged with dignity intact from his spells at Chelsea and Portsmouth.

The appointment process is now expected to speed up, with Andronikou effectively having granted the Londoners permission to make a formal approach for Grant’s services.

Avram GrantWest Ham UnitedPortsmouthPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

Preparing for the Championship appeared to be the theme of Burnley’s January recruitment drive. The addition of players who had prospered outside the Premier League but rarely within it seemed to suggest a quiet admission of defeat in their valiant, and initially uplifting, attempt to punch above their weight. Yet when a pair of those self-same lower-league specialists scored here and another cleared off his own line, Burnley’s willingness to eschew big-name arrivals acquired a logic.

For Brian Laws, whose first win as a Premier League manager came after a career of more than 750 games with Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Sheffield Wednesday, both the manner of it and the result were heartening. He had renewed David Nugent’s loan from Portsmouth and signed the former Coventry defender Danny Fox from Celtic and watched each score. Their strikes sandwiched a clearance from Leon Cort, another arrival last month, off his own line. Between them, they can boast spells at Bury, Walsall and Southend.

West Ham’s ambitions stretch rather higher, but while Mido and Ilan, two of their newcomers, threatened, the result was no immediate endorsement of their recent shopping.

The first goal was a product of Laws’ frantic activity in the transfer window. Fox, the newcomer at left-back, provided the pass and Nugent a finish of casual aplomb. Yet it also owed much to the negligence of the West Ham defence, allowing Fox’s arrowed ball to travel some 50 yards before Matthew Upson misjudged the flight of it. Nugent left Robert Green stranded with his deft lob.

Burnley’s second was a similarly classy finish. After Jack Collison barged over Tyrone Mears, Fox curled in an unstoppable free-kick from an acute angle.

Another debutant had an opportunity to open his account. Benni McCarthy had the chance to supply an eloquent response to the Burnley supporters who remembered his recent past at Blackburn. After an injection of drive from Scott Parker, his weighted ball allowed McCarthy to defeat Brian Jensen. His shot lacked the power to beat the covering Cort.

Injured at the end of the first half, McCarthy did not re-emerge after the interval, affording Mido a bow. His first touch was a well-struck shot that ended up among the visiting fans behind Jensen’s goal.

Thereafter, Carlton Cole had a goal disallowed for offside and Junior Stanislas clipped the bar with a free-kick that bore distinct similarities to Fox’s.

A goal eventually arrived for West Ham when the third of their new strikers struck. Ilan, the Brazilian who came on a free transfer, had a tap-in after Jensen and Mido had collided while they challenged for Cole’s cross. Mido struck the post, but an equaliser eluded West Ham.

Premier LeagueBurnleyWest Ham UnitedRichard Jollyguardian.co.uk

• Zola hoping to repay trust of new owners with results
• Benni McCarthy and Benjani Mwaruwari expected to sign

Gianfranco Zola has admitted the completion of the protracted takeover of West Ham United by David Sullivan and David Gold came as “a massive relief”, though the Italian acknowledged that the onus is now on him to steer the club away from the threat of relegation if he is to retain his position at Upton Park.

The new owners stated publicly last week that they retain complete faith in Zola, a relative managerial novice in his first club appointment, despite suggestions that they had considered recruiting Mark Hughes with a short-term brief of staving off relegation. They have since spoken with the Italian on a daily basis as West Ham seek to reinforce their squad, with the Blackburn Rovers striker Benni McCarthy and Manchester City’s Benjani Mwaruwari expected to complete moves to Upton Park ahead of the weekend. Blackburn announced they have received a written offer from West Ham for McCarthy.

While strengthening the forward ranks was considered a priority, just as significant has been confirmation that none of West Ham’s key players will need to be sold. “Every window we’ve had to sell someone because of the financial problems, so to know everyone is staying is massive,” said Zola, who had feared losing the likes of Scott Parker and Matthew