This Premier League has seen a record 20 managerial changes since the start of the season and most of them have barely been blips on my radar.
Today however, two from the last month have turned into blaring beacons as Palace moved beat West Ham United 4-3 to overhaul what had been a 12-point chasm to move above Chelsea in the table. Their visitors today are now the only team from the capital below the blues. That gap is just 5 points now though and with the way things are going at Stamford Bridge it may not be long before it disappears entirely.
Chelsea have been struggling all season and when a 2-2 draw at home to Everton saw their new owners part ways with Graham Potter the new owners turned to ex midfield maestro Frank Lampard to reverse their fortunes. The very same Lampard who had been sacked by Everton in January as relegation fears engulfed the club.
In Seven games, ten and a half hours of football, in all competitions Lampard’s Chelsea have scored just one goal, been knocked out of the Champions League and secured just a single point in the league. A point that was secured in a 0-0 draw with a similarly dismal (at the time) Liverpool team.
One point from an available fifteen is relegation form and any other manager overseeing such a disastrous run could expect the sack imminently. Lampard may be safe for now, but only because the owners are unlikely to want to admit how badly they’ve got things wrong.
Chelsea will almost certainly be safe come the end of the season too, but with no win in 5, just 9 points separating them from the drop and no sign of improvement in results or performances it’s not impossible that they may yet be playing in the Championship next season.
A similar fate appeared to be closing in on Crystal Palace at the end of March, when they sacked Patrick Viera on 17 March 2023, with the team not having won a game since 31st December 2022.
Palace also turned to a club legend, Roy Hodgson, to turn their fortunes around and with marked different results to their neighbours on the north bank of the Thames. Hodgson has overseen six league games since taking the helm and hasn’t lost a single won.
His record in his current sparkling spell helming the Eagles has so far consisted of five victories, fifteen goals and a single draw (at home to Lampard’s old club Everton). That’s what I call an impact.
The contrasting fortunes of these clubs in turning to old hands highlights the vast differences between them.
Crystal Palace have the stability of having had the same owner for multiple seasons now. A local man with a vested interest in seeing his home town team succeed, who turned to a tried and tested manager to steady the ship.
Chelsea, unfortunately for their fans, have recently been forced into a change of ownership due to circumstances outside of their control. They have been taken over by a foreign owner with no personal ties to the club, who has turned to an ex-player with one unsuccessful spell in the dugout under his belt.
Since they re-joined their respective clubs, Hodgson has made Palace irrepressibly good whilst Lampard has made Chelsea indescribably bad.
The Football tourist 