Frank Lampard has been sacked as Chelsea head coach after 18 months in charge.
The Blues great qualified for the Champions League and reached the FA Cup final in his first season at the helm but failed to build from a position of strength, departing in ninth in the Premier League despite significant spending in the transfer market.
Defeat at Leicester City last week left Chelsea with just two wins from their past eight league games and, although he oversaw Sunday's FA Cup win over Luton Town, it proved sufficient to end Lampard's reign.
That Leicester reverse was merely the latest sign Lampard was struggling as a young coach in a huge role, however.
We look at five games from his tenure that suggested Lampard was not cut out for the top job at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea 0-2 Southampton - December 2019
In the early days of Lampard's time in charge, Chelsea were a force to be reckoned with away from home, losing 4-0 at Manchester United on the opening day of the season but winning their next seven games on the road in all competitions. Bobby Campbell, in 1989, was the only previous Chelsea boss to oversee such a run.
But the Blues' problems persisted on home soil and were particularly evident over the course of a month late in 2019 when they lost to West Ham, Bournemouth and Southampton at Stamford Bridge.
Defeat to Saints, just four days after a brilliant win at Tottenham, saw Chelsea lose consecutive home league matches for the first time since November 2011.
Already their seventh top-flight loss of the campaign, there was little sign of progress, with Maurizio Sarri having only lost eight times in the entirety of the previous season.
Chelsea 0-3 Bayern Munich - February 2020
Chelsea again got the better of Jose Mourinho's Spurs in the return fixture at Stamford Bridge, yet that victory was followed by another damaging home defeat, this time in the Champions League.
The Blues met Bayern for the first time since their 2011-12 Champions League final triumph – when Lampard was captain – but were completely outclassed by the eventual title winners.
The first leg of their last-16 tie saw Chelsea suffer their heaviest home European defeat, going down 3-0 to a Bayern team who had 16 attempts and bossed 63 per cent of the possession.
The gap between Lampard's men and Europe's best was never more prominent.
Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea - August 2020
A testing first season, disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, could still have ended on a high had Lampard masterminded an FA Cup final victory over Arsenal.
The Blues beat Liverpool, Leicester and United en route to the delayed August showpiece but came up short as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice in a 2-1 Arsenal success.
Unlike against Bayern, Chelsea had control of the ball with 60 per cent of the possession. However, they were out-shot 11-9 as the Gunners were clinical on the counter.
Silverware last term might have given Lampard a firmer grasp on his role during the recent rocky patch.
Wolves 2-1 Chelsea - December 2020
Chelsea led the Premier League early in December having beaten Leeds United, but their season – and Lampard's tenure – really fell apart either side of Christmas.
Having lost at Everton after facing Leeds, the Blues conceded a last-gasp winner to Wolves to suffer consecutive league defeats for the first time in a year.
Lampard's side were poor at both ends of the pitch, failing to muster a single shot on target in the first half before being caught on the break in the 95th minute.
The Chelsea coach told his players to "wake up to what this is about right now", but it was not a warning they heeded.
Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea - December 2020
A scarcely deserved 3-0 win over West Ham appeared to get Chelsea back on track and they should then have been able to build some momentum against struggling Arsenal.
But Mikel Arteta's side, winless in seven in the league, arrested their own slump in a deserved success as they took control with a flurry of goals either side of half-time.
Chelsea had again been unable to test the opposition goalkeeper before the break and left it far too late to attempt to stage a comeback, scoring in the 85th minute through Tammy Abraham but then seeing Bernd Leno save Jorginho's penalty.
With defeats to Manchester City and Leicester following in the final weeks of Lampard's reign, this represented a huge missed opportunity to relieve pressure.
We’ve got to believe we can pull off a miracle – Inverness captain Sean Welsh
Captain Sean Welsh has told his Inverness team-mates they have to believe they can pull off “a miracle” in what will be the biggest game of his career this Saturday.
The cinch Championship side are big underdogs for their Scottish Cup final showdown with Celtic, who are bidding to complete a domestic treble.
Welsh knows it will take a huge effort to pull off an upset at Hampden but the 33-year-old is adamant his team have a chance.
“It ranks at the very top for me,” said the former Partick Thistle and Falkirk midfielder when asked about the size of the game in the context of his career.
“It’s not very often you get to play on an occasion like this, especially at my age getting to the latter stages of my career. I am thoroughly looking forward to it.
“We’ve got to believe, I’ve said that to the lads all week. We’ve got to believe we can pull off a miracle.
“We don’t just want to go there for a day out and get caught up in the occasion.
“We know it’s a massive challenge in front of us, but we’ve got to have belief in ourselves.
“We know we have a good group and we know we are going to be up against it at times in the game but we’ve got to stick together and have that belief that we can do it.”
Celtic won only two of their closing six Premiership matches as they had the title wrapped up with time to spare, but Welsh dismissed any notion that his team can draw encouragement from the champions’ recent form dip.
“I don’t think you can look too much into that,” he added.
“They wrapped up the title early doors and then had a few results they probably weren’t happy with but you saw at the weekend (when they beat Aberdeen 5-0) they can turn it on when they need to. I’m sure they’ll be right up for this.
“It’s not going to make much difference to us, we know how hard the challenge is going to be.”
Inverness will have gone more than four weeks without a competitive game by the time they run out at Hampden on Saturday.
Although Welsh admits it is “not ideal” in terms of maintaining match sharpness, he feels the month-long break has at least allowed them to banish any lingering disappointment after they lost to Ayr in their final Championship fixture and missed out on the play-offs.
“It was good to get some time to get over what happened in the last game of the season,” he said.
“That was a difficult night and we were all very disappointed to miss out on the play-offs so the time away was good for us to clear our minds and get over it.
“We didn’t want that lingering going into this massive game.
“We’ve come back in refreshed and excited and we’re looking forward to it.”
5 key talking points as rivals Man City and Man Utd clash in FA Cup final
Rivals Manchester City and Manchester United clash in the FA Cup final this weekend.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the key talking points ahead of the Wembley encounter.
The treble
City head to Wembley hoping to complete the second leg of a glorious treble. The Premier League title is in the bag and the Champions League final against Inter Milan is still to come. Adding spice to the occasion is the fact that United are the only other English club to have achieved this feat, back in 1999. Their fans would certainly love nothing more than to stop their neighbours emulating them.
Champions League final influence
It will be interesting to see how much of a bearing the Champions League final has on City manager Pep Guardiola’s selection. The European competition is the one great prize that has eluded him during his time at City and is undoubtedly his priority. He could opt to hold players back with that in mind. However, this is not his normal way and, with a week between the fixtures, there is time for rest and recovery. Guardiola will also need to keep his star players sharp and there can be few better games in which to do so than a Wembley final.
Ten Hag recovery
Erik ten Hag has lifted spirits at Old Trafford after a dreadful 2021-22 campaign in which they got through three managers. There have still been some bad defeats along the way – most notably 4-0 at Brentford, 6-3 at City and 7-0 at Liverpool – but the Dutchman has generally earned credit for the way he turned the team around. He won the Carabao Cup and got them back into the Champions League. There was even talk of a title challenge at one stage as they hit form mid-season. United are still some way off where they aspire to be, but winning the FA Cup would cap a promising campaign.
Haaland chasing more headlines
Erling Haaland has written his name all over this season. The prolific Norwegian has had a sensational impact at City, scoring 52 goals in all competitions. Dixie Dean’s near century-old all-time single-season record of 63 may be beyond him now but he will be hungry for more and to add a significant, competition-winning strike to his tally. He is not the only dangerman in the City side but he will be the one feared most by United.
United options
United’s pursuit of Champions League football fuelled a strong finish to their Premier League campaign. With players also staking claims for cup final places, they secured third place with a run of four-successive wins. This has given Ten Hag the pleasant problem of deciding which players to leave out. The make-up of the attack could be particularly interesting with Marcus Rashford now fit after illness, Antony close to returning from injury and Alejandro Garnacho and Jadon Sancho having done their cases no harm in recent weeks.
How managers Pep Guardiola and Erik ten Hag fare ahead of FA Cup final
Pep Guardiola and Erik ten Hag will lead the teams out at Wembley this weekend in the first-ever all-Manchester FA Cup final.
Ahead of Saturday’s showdown in the capital, the PA news agency has taken a closer look at the City and United managers.
Past meetings
This season’s Premier League encounters are the only times these managers have faced off, with City winning the first encounter 6-3 in October before United came back to win 2-1 at Old Trafford in January.
But while they do not have a huge history of playing against one another, these managers know each other well.
Ten Hag left Go Ahead Eagles in his homeland in 2013 to become head coach of Bayern Munich II – the reserve team of the perennial Bundesliga champions, who were then managed by Guardiola.
The United boss said the Spaniard inspired him, with the pair talking regularly with the Dutchman watching him very carefully. Ten Hag has previously described his training sessions as “a joy to watch”.
Guardiola clearly thinks highly of his cross-city rival, who he said would have made an excellent successor for him at the Etihad Stadium before his United appointment was confirmed.
Trophies
Guardiola, arguably the greatest coach of this generation, boasts an eye-watering medal haul.
The 52-year-old has won 11 top-flight titles – three LaLiga crowns, three Bundesliga titles and now five Premier League triumphs. Guardiola oversaw a pair of Champions League victories at Barcelona, which he hopes to add to against Inter Milan in June’s Istanbul finale.
The Catalan has also won domestic trophies aplenty wherever he has been, with Saturday offering the chance to win his second FA Cup.
The freshly-crowned LMA Manager of the Year takes on a man that led Ajax to three Eredivisie titles during his time in Amsterdam, as well as a pair of KNVB Cups and the Johan Cruyff Shield.
Ten Hag’s first silverware as a manager was the Regionalliga Bayern title in 2014, while this season’s Carabao Cup victory was his latest triumph and first at United.
This season
City are looking to write their name in history by matching United’s 1999 treble heroes. Guardiola’s side saw off Arsenal’s impressive title charge during an unrelenting end to the season that led them to be crowned with three games to spare – their fifth in six years and third in succession.
Inter stand in their way as City make their second Champions League final appearance on June 10, where they would have the chance to wrap up the treble, unless Ten Hag’s Red Devils can put a spoke in the wheel at Wembley.
United have improved vastly on last season’s wretched campaign to finish third in the Premier League, securing a Champions League return on the back of ending their six-year wait for silverware.
Ten Hag became just the second manager in the club’s medal-laden history to win a major trophy in his first season at the helm with February’s Carabao Cup triumph against Newcastle.
Now comes the chance to add another trophy to the cabinet with a statement victory that would end their neighbours’ treble dreams.
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