Chelsea sacked their coach, Graham Potter.
The club moved to end Potter’s reign after just seven months with a 2-0 defeat by Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The 47-year-old has overseen just four wins this calendar year leaving Chelsea 11th in the Premier League table – 12 points off the Champions League places.
The club said in a statement: “Chelsea Football Club announces that Graham Potter has left the club. Graham has agreed to work with the club to facilitate a smooth transition.
“In his time with the club, Graham has taken us to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, where we will face Real Madrid.
“Chelsea would like to thank Graham for all his efforts and contributions and wish him well for the future.”
The club confirmed that Bruno Saltor will take charge of training the team on a temporary basis.
Potter signed a five-year deal to replace Thomas Tuchel in September, with Chelsea paying a £20m buy-out clause to lure him from Brighton.
But he won just seven of the 22 matches he played in all competitions, with a January transfer window nearing £300m and failed to make a sustained rebound.
Potter, who owners Todd Bohle and Baghdadi Eghbali said fit the club’s “vision” with its “innovation”, won five of their opening six games in all competitions, but Chelsea slipped either side of the World Cup, suffering heavy losses against Brighton and Manchester United. City, as well as the defeat at home to relegation-threatened Southampton.
The club recovered from coming from behind in the first leg to beat Borussia Dortmund and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but despite adding reinforcements in January including Enzo Fernandez, Mikhailo Modric and Joao Felix, they continue to fall behind in the Premier League.
Potter had previously insisted he was “not the problem”, and suggested he had “probably the toughest job in football” trying to fix a club in transition following the takeover of Boehly-Clearlake the previous May.
He also claimed that some players had referred to a difficult pre-season before his arrival, but after the 2-0 defeat at Tottenham, he said he took “full responsibility” for the continued poor form.
He again took the blame after Villa’s defeat was booed, and said he understood the fans’ “pain”.
Chelsea will be next up against Liverpool on Tuesday.
(Photo: Getty Images)
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”