Premier League sack race: Lampard leads but even he now looks set to grimly see out the season
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 on oddschecker.
Have we finally hit the point when there are no more changes? Probably yes.
1) Frank Lampard
In truth, “No manager to leave” is now a pretty hefty favourite. The only manager in any real danger of not seeing out the season would appear to be Frank Lampard, whose second spell as Chelsea boss has been hilarious/terrible depending on allegiance. He’s not going to be there beyond the end of this season, that much is clear, but he is almost certainly going to cling grimly on until the bitter end. At least that relegation threat has been put to bed. For the second time in successive seasons, arch firefighter Lampard has led his team to safety. Put some respect on his name.
2) Steve Cooper
It’s actually kind of astonishing that Nottingham Forest have stuck with their manager throughout this season. Whether it ends in survival or relegation, it looks like the right decision. There’s a case for saying sticking rather than twisting is wise.
3) Ruben Selles
Appointed until the end of the season by Southampton but they now look utterly doomed. So doomed that there isn’t even any point in attempting another panicked appointment. Canny of him.
4) Dean Smith
Little evidence that Leicester are any less shambolic under Smith than Brendan Rodgers as a distinctly mid-table squad hurtles ever more ludicrously towards relegation, but as with the above it’s surely too late for a managerial Hail Mary that probably wouldn’t work anyway.
5) Sam Allardyce
It would be very, very funny, you can’t deny that.
6) Ryan Mason
Be very weird for Spurs to get rid of their best manager of the season, but you never do know with Spurs.
7) David Moyes
Has seemed unlikely to last the season for pretty much the entirety of it, yet here we are in May with a 4-0 away win at Bournemouth and well deserved home win over Manchester United all but securing Premier League football and a huge opportunity to claim European silverware. He’s going nowhere now until the summer at the very, very least. We all laughed when he said this could still be a great season for West Ham; the humble pie is being prepared…
8) Julen Lopetegui
Got absolutely mullered by Brighton to raise questions about his long-term position but will be fine for now having acheived escape velocity in Wolves’ bid to beat the drop.
9) Sean Dyche
‘We did genuinely think that Dyche would save Everton with ease, but we are darned if we know where their next win is coming from,’ we said last week. That would be 5-1 at Brighton, obviously. Idiots.
10) Jurgen Klopp
Going nowhere obviously, especially as Liverpool have re-found some small magic. Only Manchester City are arguably in better form.
11) Marco Silva
There is far, far more danger of Silva being poached than being sacked as the Cottagers have performed beyond any expectations.
12) Roy Hodgson
Frankly it was a bizarre decision to bring him back to Crystal Palace; it would be an even more bizarre decision if they reversed on that decision before the end of the season, particularly as he is winning several games. And he does have a perversely easy run-in because Palace’s fixture list this season was so weird, being broadly speaking broken into four sections of ‘all the good teams’ then ‘all the bad teams’ then ‘all the good teams again’ and now finally at last ‘all the bad teams again’.
13) Thomas Frank
In no danger of the sack, of course. He’s built a proper Premier League squad that plays entertaining football on a shoestring budget.
14) Eddie Howe
Took Newcastle from 19th to a comfortable mid-table finish last season and now has them on their way to the Champions League, spending smart money on players who have immediately improved the first XI and battering supposed rivals in record-breaking fashion. Stage Two will cost a pretty penny, but a taste of Wembley seems to have given the owners further motivation to do/pay whatever it takes. Will Howe be around for that stage? Great wins over Manchester United, West Ham and Brentford help his cause; defeat to Arsenal does not.
15) Erik ten Hag
A season that started badly and was excellent in the middle – including an end to a six-year silverware drought with Carabao glory – is in danger of ending badly. Failing to finish in the top four during a season when Spurs, Chelsea and for very long periods Liverpool have been so awful would be a bit of a pisser.
16) Gary O’Neil
Simply extraordinary form from a manager who looked out of his depth just a few months ago. Bournemouth are safe, and it would be fair to say that this is not something for which a manager should be sacked.
17) Unai Emery
It would be quite difficult to do less than Steven Gerrard with what is a pretty well-stocked squad. But what a phenomenal job Emery has done in taking Villa from a relegation fight to contending for Europe.
18) Roberto De Zerbi
The fact it is possible to say out loud the sentence “Brighton will probably only qualify for the Europa League now” is testament to what De Zerbi has done in building on the work of Graham Potter. It’s a remarkable effort that means we’ll give him the occasional inexplicable 5-1 home thrashing against Everton.
19) Mikel Arteta
The fact it is possible to say out loud the setence “Arsenal will probably only finish second now” is testeamt to etc. and so forth. Love him or hate him, he is doing an extraordinary job.
20) Pep Guardiola
Second favourite to leave next at one point, Guardiola’s future was shrouded in doubt when the Manchester City charges were levelled. But that dust soon settled, the siege mentality was put into place and dropping two points in their last eight games is the sign of a side hoping not to relinquish their Premier League title without a fight.