Somtochukwu

Chelsea are reportedly looking at experienced managers to replace Frank Lampard as the pressure continues to ramp up on the Blues boss.

A limp sixth defeat of the season at Leicester on Tuesday night left Chelsea in eighth place, despite a summer spend of £230m that was expected to see them challenge for the title.

And alternatives with more nous at the top level are being lined up to rescue Chelsea’s season, according to The Athletic.

First-half goals from Wilfred Ndidi and James Maddison at the King Power Stadium lifted Leicester to the top of the Premier League — nine points clear of Lampard’s men, who are now five points adrift of the Champions League places.

Luck was not on Chelsea’s side: they were awarded a penalty with the score at 1-0, only for the spot-kick to be overturned after VAR ruled Jonny Evans fouled Christian Pulisic outside the box. And in the closing moments, substitute Timo Werner’s close-range volley was ruled out for a marginal offside.

But with Roman Abramovich, who spent £230million in the summer on the likes of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell, rarely an owner to show patience, Lampard backed himself to handle the heat.

He said: ‘I am good at handling pressure. I took this job knowing there would be difficult times as it’s not a club ready to compete.

‘We had a transfer ban, we had young players, we had new players. I understand the expectations of this club, whether I think it’s right or wrong. We are not in the same position Chelsea were when we were winning titles. The consistency, the robustness, the level of experience of winning Premier Leagues is not the same.

‘I can’t control (my future). I can’t get caught up in the reaction otherwise I would be sitting here all day concerned about it. In the game we were beaten by the better team and we had ‘sleeping’ moments.

You have to do the basics, dig in. You have to run, sprint and cover ground and too many of our players didn’t do that. We were beaten by a better team.

‘They were sharper, they ran more. If you relax when you’re playing well as we were a month go, this game kicks you up the backside and that’s what happened tonight.

Let us connect on social media forever;

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•