Chelsea are looking for their first win in over a month as they take on Brentford in Premier League action on Wednesday. Interim boss Frank Lampard has overseen four straight defeats since taking over from Graham Potter after he was sacked following the 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the start of April.
The Blues' 2022/23 season will likely be considered a complete disappointment in the future with a top-four finish nearly impossible to achieve despite seven games remaining. In fact, sitting in eleventh actually sees Chelsea closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League qualification places by nine points.
Lampard will almost certainly not be at the club next season, with former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino as the favourite to take the helm. In the meantime, many Chelsea stars could be playing for their futures at the club with a mass summer clear-out expected.
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Ahead of Chelsea's return to action, after their match against Manchester United at the weekend was rescheduled, pundits have been offering their predictions for the clash at Stamford Bridge. Chris Sutton and Paul Merson have both revealed what they think the result will be, with the latter backing Lampard to get his first win back in charge.
"This is a big game for Chelsea - a derby against one of the lesser teams in West London," Merson explained in his Sportskeeda predictions column. "Chelsea have got to go and win this for the fans, and you'd hope the players would understand that. I don't mean any disrespect to Brentford, but Chelsea losing this game would be a massive blow to their stature as a club.
"I've been saying it since day one - Chelsea need to get a manager in. I'm not sure their players are too bothered, and some of them are on their way out. They're top players, and there will be takers. We're already in April, and I still don't think anyone at the club has figured out what Chelsea's best team is. That's been their season in a nutshell, and it's very worrying.
"I think Carlo Ancelotti is the perfect candidate to take over at Chelsea. He's been there before and they need someone of that stature, but I'm not sure he'll come back. Pochettino is another candidate, but Chelsea will have to be careful. He could get it done with young players at Tottenham, but failed to win the league at PSG - how many managers have done that? He's been out of work for a long time.
"Chelsea need someone to steady the ship for the next year or two. We've seen it before in the Premier League - all the incredible work they've done over the past twenty years could very quickly fizzle out.
"Brentford have hit a brick wall at the moment and are on one of those runs where they aren't getting over the line. They're on a bad run, and this game could be interesting. I'm not too confident when I say this, but I think Chelsea could go on to win this game."
Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Brentford
Similarly to Chelsea, Brentford's last win came in the middle of March and Sutton is expecting both teams to wait for a victory will go on just a bit longer.
In his BBC Sport prediction, he said: "Frank Lampard may have thought his return to Chelsea was a 'free hit' but the longer he doesn't win, the more awkward the whole situation feels. Sorry, Frank, but I don't think that victory will come against Brentford.
Prediction: Chelsea 1-1 Brentford
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