Frank Lampard has been unable to steady the ship at Chelsea and is battling to stop his managerial career from capsizing before another captain takes over at Stamford Bridge.
Mauricio Pochettino is closing in on a deal to join this summer but, for now, Lampard has the thankless task of closing out what has been an embarrassing season.
Lampard has suffered five straight defeats since taking over as caretaker manager, and defeat to Arsenal tonight would leave him with the worst losing record of any Chelsea manager in more than 30 years. Having been sacked by Everton in January, Lampard felt the opportunity to return to Chelsea was too good to turn down, despite the challenging circumstances.
The 44-year-old was undoubtedly thrown a hospital pass, but those damming statistics risk damaging his reputation as he seeks to earn another job next season.
Lampard, though, insists he has no regrets about his decision to answer the call from the club he loves.
“I don’t think you can live your career considering those negatives and what they might mean,” he said. “My playing career has given me a level of comfort that I don’t have to be concerned about. I just have to take decisions and enjoy working, so I am not concerned about that.
“I want to win games now, but I am not thinking, ‘what might this mean for me?’. As a manager, I have had versions of successes and times when I have left clubs; that can be a pretty familiar story in modern-day management, so I can’t overthink that one.”
Lampard has been unable to improve things on the pitch at Chelsea and, while criticism of some of his tactics and team selections have been fair, it is hard to gauge whether he is under-performing, given the situation at Stamford Bridge. The feeling among many supporters is that the main fault with the issues at Chelsea lie with owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake.
Their decision to spend more than £600million on 18 players, leaving a first-team squad with an unmanageable 32 players, will surely go down as one of the greatest mistakes in Premier League history. Graham Potter could not manage the squad, and neither can Lampard.
Tonight’s trip to Arsenal, and games against Manchester United, Manchester City and Newcastle in the run-in, is a chance to show prospective employers what he can do.
