Frank Lampard is a clear favourite to be the next Premier League manager to leave his job after Everton’s insipid defeat to David Moyes’ West Ham in El Sackico.
We’ve ranked the top-flight managers by their chance of being shown – or showing themselves to – the door, starting with the favourite, according to the best odds currently available at oddschecker.com.
1) Frank Lampard
If it was David Moyes who absolutely couldn’t afford to lose when beleaguered crisis club West Ham met beleaguered crisis club Everton on Saturday, a limp 2-0 defeat for the Toffees has surely left Lampard out of road. Everybody knows the problems at Everton run far deeper than Lampard, but it’s increasingly clear he isn’t the solution to any of them either.
2) David Moyes
A team that finished sixth then seventh in the Premier League in the previous two seasons, spent £150m in the summer on players like Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca, and lost no players of great significance, should not be in a relegation fight. The latest news is that West Ham are deliberating, with Rafa Benitez the favourite to come in on a short-term basis. Victory over Everton may prove to be merely a delaying of the inevitable.
3) Jesse Marsch
He’s not Marcelo Bielsa. He probably knew that before he arrived at Leeds but if he didn’t he sure as sh*t knows it now. Marsch has next to no hope of usurping the man with 50 foot murals in a city that will never be able to accept he isn’t still theirs. Calls for his head came from the stands as Leeds lost to Villa on Friday night.
4) Antonio Conte
It still feels as though Conte is more likely to leave than be sacked. The Italian has the power at Spurs, who will need to keep his coffers laden if they’re to persuade him to stick around. One win and three defeats in five in the Premier League are not helping his case.
5) Gary O’Neil
Bournemouth have lost eight of their last nine Premier League games; they lost at home to Championship side Burnley in the FA Cup third round; and they were hopeless at Brentford. Less than two months into his tenure, O’Neil is in danger.
6) Nathan Jones
It was a big, big call from Southampton to hire Jones, who has had success at Luton in two spells but had a stinking record in his brief time with Stoke. He’s a talented young coach with a group of talented young players, but a lack of experience among the playing and coaching staff may be an issue, as is their lack of identity. But beating Everton after a win over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup was huge. And he’s our favourite.
7) Brendan Rodgers
Four straight Premier League defeats after the World Cup was not a good look for Leicester or for Brendan Rodgers, and while a 2-2 draw with Brighton isn’t a terrible outcome in the circumstances the nature of the goals conceded will irritate. Still remains the case that the Foxes will have to be really, really bad for the board to sack Rodgers as they can’t really afford his £10m pay-out. A mid-table finish will do just fine and that is still very achievable with the squad at his disposal. Meek Carabao Cup exit to Newcastle will not help.
8) Graham Potter
Assurances from Todd Boehly and his lackeys that Graham Potter is the one and will remain so at Stamford Bridge mean diddly squat, quite frankly. Thomas Tuchel is still well loved by the Chelsea fanbase, pretty much all of whom need convincing that Potter isn’t as out of his depth as he’s appeared to be since taking over. Chelsea are buying all the players but it remains to be seen how much time Potter gets to coach them.
9) Patrick Vieira
The fans and players love him and justifiably so. Having flirted with Premier League relegation for what feels like forever, it didn’t seem likely Palace would have to worry about that for a while, but then they lost a couple at home by an aggregate score of 7-0 and exited the FA Cup after losing to the Prem’s bottom side. Questions were just starting to be asked but battling hard to home draws against Manchester United and Newcastle should keep the wolves from the door.
10) Jurgen Klopp
Are we in the Klopp/Liverpool endgame? The manager couldn’t remember a worse game than their woeful defeat to Brighton. But one thing is clear: he will have to walk because he absolutely won’t be pushed by a rightly grateful fanbase. The Chelsea stalemate was pretty drab all round.
11) Steve Cooper
Signed a new contract at Nottingham Forest in October when they were truly terrible and there’s been a slow but steady upswing in performances and results since. Just not in the FA Cup.
12) Julen Lopetegui
Despite that huge win over Everton, if the new manager doesn’t buy a forward or two in January, Wolves could still go down. Preferably one to create chances and one to score goals, as they don’t really do either. But one was enough against West Ham.
13) Unai Emery
It would be quite difficult to do less than Steven Gerrard with what is a pretty well-stocked squad. Losing to a League Two team in the FA Cup isn’t great, though.
14) Roberto De Zerbi
Can Brighton do no wrong? They sold their two best players from last season and got better, then lost one of the best young managers around, and again, seem to have got better. Even without their leading scorer, they battered Liverpool.
15) Thomas Frank
There’s probably more of a danger of Frank being poached than sacked after he signed a new deal. He’s built a proper Premier League squad that plays entertaining football on a shoestring budget.
16) Marco Silva
There is far, far more danger of Silva being poached than being sacked as the Cottagers have performed beyond any expectations.
17) Eddie Howe
Took Newcastle from 19th to a comfortable mid-table finish last season and now has them well in with a shout of qualifying for the Champions League, spending smart money on players who have immediately improved the first XI.
18) Erik ten Hag
He’s done very well to be this safe after their start to the season and with Cristiano Ronaldo out of the picture, coupled with nine straight wins, the ethos Ten Hag’s started to create at Manchester United can only become stronger and more embedded.
19) Pep Guardiola
He’s now synonymous with Manchester City, and the next manager will have both an excellent and impossible job on their hands. Guardiola will have been at the Etihad for three times as long as his previous jobs if he sees out his contract and you now get the sense that he’s as obsessed with winning the Champions League as the owners. Fans of rival clubs may well be hoping that gong comes sooner rather than later as he may not leave without it.
20) Mikel Arteta
He has held on with his fingertips on more than one occasion in his Arsenal stint but trusting the process has paid off. Arteta and transfer chief Edu have proven to be quite the duo, building a squad to challenge the Manchester City behemoth.
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