With the Premier League nearing the halfway mark in the season, five managers have already lost their job. However, they are unlikely to be the last, as a number of candidates find themselves closer to the exit door than they would like.
Eight Premier League managers are sacked in a season on average, and that number could well be matched by the end of February. At this level, the price of failure is high.
Here are some of the leading candidates.
Frank Lampard (Everton)
Everton are a deeply troubled club right now. Not only do they find themselves second bottom of the league (above Southampton only on goal difference), but the whole atmosphere around the team has become toxic.
The directors were warned to stay away from their home game against Southampton at the weekend on security grounds.
It later emerged that their chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale was put in a headlock by one fan after a recent game, and that she and her family had been subject to vile abuse on social media as were her fellow directors.
After the loss to Southampton at the weekend, several thousand fans stayed behind in the ground to protest, and there were reports of angry scenes between disgruntled supporters and players as they tried to leave the stadium.
It is difficult to see manager Frank Lampard surviving for long, and he may be offered up as a sacrificial lamb in the coming weeks.
David Moyes (West Ham United)
David Moyes was a former Everton manager, but he is now in his second stint at West Ham.
They finished seventh last season and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, but this time they are struggling and find themselves in the bottom three after losing to Wolves at the weekend.
Moyes admits that he knows that he is under pressure, and is “not stupid enough” to survive the sack if their dismal form continues. There have been suggestions that the only thing keeping him in his job at the moment is the lack of viable alternatives.
Jesse Marsch (Leeds United)
Jesse Marsch was handed a tough gig when he succeeded Marcelo Bielsa as Leeds United manager towards the end of last season, because the Argentine was so well regarded by the home fans after finally steering them back to the Premier League after a 16-year absence.
The American earned himself some goodwill by steering them away from relegation last season. But, with the club at the wrong end of the table, the spotlight is back on him and comparisons with the fictional character Ted Lasso are starting to be made again.
With the potential cost of a drop back into the Championship so costly, the owners may decide to pull the trigger sooner rather than later.
Gary O’Neil (Bournemouth)
Newly promoted Bournemouth have already had one change of manager this season when Scott Parker, the man who brought them up, was fired for some injudicious comments about the club’s owners at the time.
Gary O’Neil was given the job on a temporary basis before his position was made permanent, but the club have since changed hands, and the new American owners have now paid in excess of £100 million for a Championship club.
It would be no surprise if they thought a new face in the dugout might help steer them away from danger.
Graham Potter (Chelsea)
Chelsea were Champions League winners less than two years ago, but have suffered a chaotic past 12 months with the club placed under government administration whilst Roman Abramovich’s tenure as owner was ended following the Russian armed invasion of Ukraine.
A consortium led by Todd Boehly bought the club. And despite heavily backing manager Thomas Tuchel in the transfer market, they sacked him.
Graham Potter was brought in from Brighton to replace him but has struggled, and the club are currently 10th in the Premier League, 10 points off the Champions League places.
Potter has again been given big money in the January window, but a section of the Chelsea fanbase maintain he is out of his depth.
Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Although Jurgen Klopp has been one of the most successful managers in England over the past five years, Liverpool are struggling this season and sit ninth above Chelsea just on goal difference.
Some have suggested that perhaps his methods at Anfield have grown stale and that perhaps the seven-year itch has kicked in. He spent seven years at his two previous clubs, Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, and is now in his seventh year at Anfield.
Antonio Conte (Tottenham Hotspur)
For a team sitting fifth in the table kit may seem strange to be talking about a managerial change, but Spurs fans are not happy with the way their team is playing, whilst manager Antonio Conte has made it clear that more investment in the squad is needed.
He is out of contract in the summer and has not committed to a new deal, and an earlier parting of the ways is not beyond the realm of possibility.
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