• Avram Grant and Glenn Hoddle on Hammers shortlist
• Sacked Gianfranco Zola will have to fight for payout

West Ham United want to talk to Avram Grant after Saturday’s FA Cup final with a view to installing him as the managerial successor to Gianfranco Zola, who was sacked this morning and faces an acrimonious battle to secure a payout.

The east London club have placed Grant, the Portsmouth manager, at the top of their shortlist, which also includes Glenn Hoddle, the former England coach, whose previous post was at Wolverhampton Wanderers four years ago.

West Ham’s joint chairmen, David Sullivan and David Gold, will have to wait until after Saturday’s Cup final, in which Portsmouth take on Chelsea, to sound out Grant as the Israeli is focused only on the game. But Sullivan and Gold are aware that Grant would jump at the chance to move to Upton Park while there would be no issues with Portsmouth over compensation.

Zola has clashed with Sullivan, in particular, and felt the club’s ownership has been too outspoken and demanding. But Grant would have no such problems, having worked for Chelsea’s exacting owner, Roman Abramovich, and run the gamut of emotions at Portsmouth this season.

Hoddle’s candidacy is intriguing. Sullivan and Gold like to work with British managers – they had Alex McLeish, Steve Bruce, Trevor Francis and Barry Fry at their previous club, Birmingham City – but Hoddle may tick other boxes, too. He is gifted, experienced and, in many respects, a glamour name while, like Grant, there would be no problem regarding compensation.

West Ham’s shortlist is completed by Gregorio Manzano, Real Mallorca’s Spanish coach, who has had an excellent season in guiding his team to fifth place in La Liga, with a chance of fourth on the final day, and a quartet of upwardly mobile Championship managers: Dave Jones (Cardiff City), Nigel Pearson (Leicester City), Ian Holloway (Blackpool) and Paulo Sousa (Swansea City). The first three are involved in the promotion play-offs while Sousa narrowly missed out. Any of the four would appear to be a fall-back option.

Other names to have been discussed but apparently discounted include Mark Hughes, Steve McClaren and Slaven Bilic. Hughes appears content to bide his time for a bigger job – he has been linked to Aston Villa if Martin O’Neill were to leave – while McClaren has joined Wolfsburg in Germany on a two-year contract. Sullivan and Gold have not been sold on Bilic, the Croatia manager.

Zola had said on Sunday night, after the final match of a traumatic season against Manchester City, that he would hold talks with the board during the week regarding his future and he looked forward to a “long and interesting chat”. In the event, though, Karren Brady, the club’s vice-chairman, wielded the axe ruthlessly in a brief meeting at Upton Park. Neither Sullivan nor Gold was present.

West Ham have proposed no payout to Zola, who was under contract until 2013 and earned £1.9m a year, as they allege that he put himself in breach of the terms of his deal by criticising Sullivan. After Sullivan had said the whole squad was up for sale, apart from the midfielder Scott Parker, Zola responded by saying that if he was Mark Noble or Valon Behrami, for example, he would not be very happy to have heard the news.

An aggrieved Zola feels that the allegation is tenuous and a little rich, in light of the flak that he has taken from Sullivan, and he has enlisted the League Managers Association to fight his case for compensation. Under the terms of his contract, Zola is entitled to severance of one year’s pay. The matter is expected to go to tribunal.

“I am extremely disappointed to be leaving West Ham,” Zola said. “Over recent weeks, I have been the subject of various adverse comments, from within the club, which have been widely reported in the media.”

Richard Bevan, the LMA’s chief executive, said: “Clear communication and a supportive framework at the top of a football club are essential for stability and delivering results.”

Zola’s assistant, Steve Clarke, remains at the club, with three years of his contract

West Ham United’s search for the single point that will absolutely guarantee their Premier League status continues against a Fulham side that will either be energised by Thursday’s Europa League success, or just knackered. A certain amount of squad rotation is to be expected. Bobby Zamora, with an achilles injury to nurse and a showpiece final now to aim for, is unlikely to be risked against his former club, but West Ham’s Luís Boa Morte could make a first appearance of the season against his. Gianfranco Zola will hope his team can achieve in their last away game something they last managed in their first: a win. Simon Burnton

Venue Craven Cottage, Sunday 3pm Tickets £45-£60 (0870 442 1234) Last season Fulham 1 West Ham 2 Referee A Marriner

This season’s matches 26 Y96, R9, 4.04 cards per game

Odds Fulham 13-10 West Ham 12-5 Draw 12-5

Fulham

Subs from Zuberbühler, Kelly, Baird, Smalling, Shorey, Stoor, Andranik,

Greening, Riise, Dikgacoi, E Johnson, Nevland, Elm, Okaka

Doubtful None

Injured Zamora (achilles, 12 May), A Johnson (knee, Aug) Suspended None

Form guide LDDWLL

Disciplinary record Y43 R1

Leading scorer Zamora 8

West Ham United

Subs from Stech, Kurucz, Gabbidon, Daprela, Tomkins, Spence, Boa Morte, Stanislas, Diamanti, Franco, Mido, McCarthy

Doubtful Boa Morte (match fitness)

Injured Hines (knee, Aug), Collison (ankle, Aug), Dyer (hamstring, Aug), Ilunga (thigh, Aug)

Suspended None

Form guide WLWDLL Disciplinary record Y63 R3

Leading scorer Cole 9

Match pointers

• Fulham have failed to win their last 11 London derbies

• The Cottagers won their first Premier League match against West Ham but have failed to win at their last 12 attempts

• Conversely, West Ham have won none of their last six league London derbies away from home and have lost the last four in a row

• West Ham have not conceded a goal away from home and won since December 2008

• Carlton Cole has scored in his last three Premier League appearances against Fulham

FulhamWest Ham UnitedPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk

• Five regulars rested for Fulham’s 2-0 defeat
• Roy Hodgson confident he has ‘no case to answer’

West Ham United are to make a formal complaint to the Premier League over Fulham’s perceived weakened team selection in last Saturday’s defeat at Hull City.

Roy Hodgson rested a quintet of key players – Bobby Zamora, Danny Murphy, Damien Duff, Aaron Hughes and Dickson Etuhu – with this evening’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Wolfsburg in mind and his reshaped team were beaten 2-0. Hull’s victory drew them level with West Ham, who have lost their last six games, have 27 points and are outside the relegation zone only on goal difference.

The mood of the West Ham co-owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, will not have been improved by Hodgson’s admission yesterday that, while he felt he would have “no case to answer” if a complaint was made, his selection at Hull had been dictated by his team’s European commitments. “Roy Hodgson admitted on television that he had rested players because he had an important Europa League match coming up,” a West Ham spokesman said. “He admitted fielding a weakened team. From our point of view that’s awful and we are going to put in a complaint.”

What the Premier League would make of the issue is unclear – no complaint had been received last night – given that Fulham still included seven regulars from their Europa League campaign. West Ham recently rested Carlton Cole and Scott Parker for their game at Arsenal.

The governing body indicated that weakened selections would be subject to a disciplinary commission when fining Wolves £25,000 earlier this season for their line-up at Manchester United. Yet they will be aware that relations between the London clubs are already strained, with Fulham still suing West Ham for “merit money” lost in 2006-07.

Fulham finished two points behind West Ham, in 16th, but claimed Carlos Tevez, whose signing had breached rules on third-party ownership, had been key to West Ham’s league survival. “Fulham are suing us for £500,000,” West Ham spokesman added. “They may find West Ham suing them for £50m next season.”

Hodgson, who hopes Zamora will be fit after a cold ruled him out of training yesterday, had made full use of his squad earlier in the season when retaining Premier League status was very much a priority and the club’s European excursions a pleasant distraction. That strategy changed only once their league form had hoisted them to within sight of safety, with progress in the Europa League now the side’s main objective.

“I made that decision when we got to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and in the Europa League, and we’d reached 38 points,” Hodgson said. “We looked at it and said that, even if we lost every league game from then on, those below us might not overhaul us. So I tinkered on Saturday, to some extent, but only because that match came after Juventus on the Thursday, Manchester City on the Sunday and Spurs on the Wednesday in the FA Cup.

“I made the decision to rest four or five players knowing full well I had the right to do that with the quality of players at my disposal. That meant the likes of Murphy, Etuhu, Duff and Zamora didn’t play five games in 12 days. I’ve never experienced a period like this, with games every three days for three months, in my career in management. But I have no case to answer and I’ll be surprised if it’s confirmed [that West Ham are to lodge a complaint].”

Hodgson insisted that leading Fulham into the last eight of this competition was arguably a greater achievement than taking Internazionale to the final of the Uefa Cup in 1997. “We’ve been playing now since the last week in July, and it’s been a long haul,” he said. “These will be our 15th and 16th games in the competition this season, but when we reached the final with Inter we only played 10[ and not against anything like the standard of opponent as we have with Fulham. That shows you what we’ve achieved already.”

Fulham (4-4-2; probable): Schwarzer; Baird, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky; Duff, Murphy, Etuhu, Davies; Zamora, Gera.

Wolfsburg (4-1-3-2; probable): Benaglio; Pekarik, Madlung, Barzagli, Schafer; Josué; Riether, Misimovic, Gentner; Grafite, Dzeko.

Referee: D Skomina (Slovenia).

TV: ESPN, kick-off 8.05pm

West Ham UnitedFulhamPremier LeagueUefa Europa LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk