Chelsea have sacked manager Frank Lampard after 18 months in charge.
Former Chelsea midfielder Lampard, 42, leaves with the club ninth in the Premier League table after last week’s defeat at Leicester City, having won once in their past five league matches.
Lampard was appointed on a three-year contract when he replaced Maurizio Sarri at Stamford Bridge in July 2019.
He guided them to fourth place and the FA Cup final in his first season in charge, but the Blues have now suffered as many defeats in their past eight league games as they had in their previous 23.
According to football finance journalist Kieran Maguire, Abramovich has spent £110m on sacking managers before Lampard’s dismissal.
Having finished with 66 points last season after 20 wins and 12 defeats, Chelsea have lost six times in their opening 19 league games this season.
Lampard’s points-per-game average of 1.67 is the lowest of any permanent Chelsea manager in the Premier League. During the Roman Abramovich era, only Andre Villas-Boas (47.5%) has a worse win rate than Lampard’s 52.4%, in all competitions amongst permanent Chelsea bosses.
In contrast, Jose Mourinho’s win rate in all competitions during his first spell in charge was 67.03%, while Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri, Avram Grant, Carlo Ancelotti and Claudio Ranieri all had win rates over 60%.
The players were told not to come to the training ground until Monday afternoon as Lampard becomes the 10th manager sacked during the Roman Abramovich era.
Confirmation of his sacking came just before 11.30am on Monday after the club took decisive action following a torrid run of five losses in eight league games.
Abramovich described Lampard as a ‘man of great integrity’ in the statement confirming his dismissal but added: ‘Under current circumstances we believe it is best to change managers.’
Sunday’s win over Luton Town to advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup hasn’t proved enough to save the former midfielder from the chop.
The former Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel is in prime position to replace Lampard with talks at an advanced stage.
