It now appears to be a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’, Chelsea will sack Maurizio Sarri.
The defending champions were booted out of the FA Cup last night after sinking to a 2-0 defeat at home to a Manchester United.
A couple of months ago the Blues may well have won the fixture, however Sarri’s stutterers have been on a severe downward spiral in 2019 and are now a shadow of the side that inflicted a first league defeat upon Man City in December – in contrast, a rejuvenated Man Utd have yet to lose a single one of their dozen domestic fixtures under interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
In the flick of a switch United have leapfrogged Chelsea in the league – turning an 11 point deficit into a one point advantage – and chucked them out of the FA Cup. The Red Devils have Solskjaer to thank for that.
‘Sarri-ball’ has burst and Chelsea need to act fast ahead of a pivotal week which includes a return Europa League last-32 fixture against Malmo, swiftly followed by a League Cup final against Man City.
As brutal as it sounds, Chelsea must make a managerial change right now. The Londoners should beat Malmo on Thursday regardless of who is in charge, but there’s absolutely no chance of the club conjuring up an upset against Pep Guardiola’s City juggernaut with Sarri at the helm.
Yes, the Italian did stun the Citizens a couple of months ago, but a lot has changed since then. City got revenge with a a 6-0 annihilation nine days ago – Chelsea’s worst ever Premier League defeat – which came after a 4-0 thrashing at Bournemouth, with the club yet to win a domestic away fixture this year, or even score a goal on the road.
Chelsea have lost five of their last 10 games in all competitions, more than they’d lost in the first 32 matches under Sarri, which included a remarkable 18 game unbeaten run. The balloon has popped and Chelsea are now in danger of slumping out of three cup competitions in a week.
Few expect Chelsea to conjure up a victory over City this weekend, but would they be in a better position to lift the cup if Sarri wasn’t in charge?