Despite being favourite to become the new Chelsea boss, Mauricio Pochettino will not be in attendance as his potential new team face Brentford on Wednesday night, football.london understands.
The Argentine has held positive talks with the club over becoming the new head coach, following on from caretaker boss Frank Lampard at the end of the season, as reported on Tuesday. It is expected that the former Tottenham manager is closing in on his first role since leaving Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
Unlike Lampard, who was in attendance for Chelsea's game against Liverpool last week in a period between Graham Potter's sacking and his own appointment, Pochettino isn't expected to be sitting in the stands at SW6 for this game.
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Whereas Lampard's appearance for the 0-0 draw became a clear precursor for a surprise temporary appointment, the club have taken their time over this exhaustive and thorough process for finding a third permanent manager in 10 months.
Despite this, Lampard wasn't being drawn into the speculation. "I'm not going to get involved in any future manager talk," he said ahead of the game at SW6. "It's all speculation like you say, it's simple as that."
Chelsea have just seven games left including the visit of Thomas Frank's Brentford and are still lingering in mid-table. Even with no European competition or domestic cup to fight for at this stage of the season Lampard doesn't see it as a right off.
"I don't have a mentality that there's nothing to play for," he said. "You won't compete absolutely every season. It comes down to personal pride and responsibility. The run-in is really tough, so my interest is to see how the players react to that."
Chelsea have so far lost all four of their games under the 44-year-old and are winless in seven outside of that.
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