Barely a few hours after the latest blot on Michael Carrick’s copybook, the Premier League offered another reminder of its unforgiving nature for under-pressure managers.

While Carrick could assert after Manchester United’s defeat by Chelsea that he would still be in charge for their next game, we wonder if Regis Le Bris could be quite as confident over his own status at Sunderland.

That’s now seven games without a win in the Premier League for Sunderland, stuck at the bottom of the table as a result.

After nine games last season, they had 17 points to their name. This time around, they have five.

There have been some pleasant distractions in Europe and the EFL Cup, but Sunderland really need to get to the heart of the matter and stop the rot to prevent their Premier League return lasting only two seasons.

On Saturday afternoon against Coventry, they were too passive and only had themselves to blame for how they went three goals down.

First of all, they made a mess of clearing their lines and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto was on hand to give Coventry the lead with a first-time curler into the bottom corner.

It was 2-0 when Taiwo Awoniyi won the ball off Luke O’Nien in the middle before running through to score. This was knife through butter stuff.

And for Coventry’s third goal, Jack Rudoni was in acres of space, allowed to shoot from outside the box without any pressure. His shot took a deflection off Omar Alderete and so Robin Roefs could only fumble at it.

Enzo Le Fee did manage to reduce the arrears, but it was only via a penalty as he sent Carl Rushworth the wrong way.

To add insult to injury, Alderete got sent off just before the end for two yellow-card offences – both committed the wrong side of the 90th minute.

This could have been a chance for Sunderland to leapfrog Coventry, but instead another relegation rival has pulled clear. Le Bris could be on borrowed time.

Managers who achieve what he did with a newly promoted Sunderland side last season deserve credit in the bank, but it can’t last forever when so much is at stake. If any club knows about the dangers of falling through the trapdoor, it’s Sunderland.

And so Le Bris, perhaps a victim of his own success, is firmly on notice.

The situation isn’t as perilous for Oliver Glasner, a relative newcomer at Nottingham Forest, but alarm bells will be ringing after their simultaneous failure to escape from the bottom three.

Forest lost 2-0 to Brentford with both goals coming from moves exposing them on their left-hand side. First it was Dango Ouattara with some good work coming inside before the ball went in off Nikola Milenkovic, who proceeded to have a nightmare for the rest of the first half and certainly walked a tightrope in terms of staying on the pitch.

For the second goal, Jaidon Anthony – a few minutes after coming on for Ouattara – found himself in plenty of space on the same wing and slid it across for Igor Thiago, whose shot deflected in to double the advantage.

Brentford keep themselves within touching distance of the top five as a result, with their upward trajectory of recent years following a more stable path than the side they defeated.

And speaking of underdogs challenging for the Champions League places, how about Brighton?

They stay third after stunning Manchester City with a 1-0 win, secured with the first goal of the 3pm kick-offs via Yasin Ayari.

Brighton worked the ball from right to left and City lost track of the goalscorer in the middle of the box before his simple finish to the bottom corner.

City should have known this was going to be a tough task. They needed penalties to beat Brighton in the EFL Cup in midweek after falling behind twice and this time they couldn’t fight back from their early deficit.

A defiant mentality powered City through after their return from the international break, overshadowed by the Premier League’s guilty verdict times 114, but are the cracks starting to show for Enzo Maresca?

City are now just two points above Brighton and will lose top spot if Arsenal avoid defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.

And Bournemouth made it a hat-trick of so-called Bermuda Triangle wins with their 2-0 triumph over Leeds United – who had thought they’d taken the lead before Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal was overruled for a handball.

Bournemouth had a helping hand from James Trafford, who gifted the ball to Justin Kluivert just before the opening goal, which was an easy finish for Evanilson.

There was more quality behind the second goal deep into stoppage time. Eli Junior Kroupi nutmegged Sean Longstaff before playing in Amine Adli with a through ball for a tuck away into the bottom corner.

Bournemouth rise above Leeds as a result, as do Hull City by virtue of a better goals-for record after their draw with Ipswich Town.

It was Ipswich who had the upper hand to start with, Florentino Luis drifting across to the right and spinning as he received the ball to blast in the opener at the near post.

Julio Enciso also had a goal ruled out as well for a foul in the build-up.

But Hull clawed their way back into the game. Tim Iroegbunam was open on the right wing and converted a one-on-one chance to level things up, before Oli McBurnie made it 2-1 with a free kick from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.

Enciso finally got his goal, though, and it was worth the wait. After breaking free from his markers, he fired in the equaliser into the top corner to earn Ipswich a point, which keeps them among the mid-table cluster of clubs.