Chelsea’s Benitez heavily backed to be next Premier League boss out

Chelsea may have won five of their last seven Premier League games and taken 16 points from a possible 21, but that has not prevented all of the money coming for Rafa Benitez to be the next Premier League manager to leave their current post.

Benitez has been backed into 7/2 in the next manager to go market, causing Paul Lambert and Alan Pardew to lengthen to 1/1 and 5/1 respectively.

Ladbrokes are offering the top price in this market.

The 2-2 draw at League One Brentford has obviously been the catalyst for the market shift, while the manager has still not won over the majority of the club’s fans despite his largely positive results.

In the draw with Brentford, chants from only 1,800 Blues fans of “You don’t know what you’re doing” could quite clearly be heard, with the team 2-1 down and Benitez replacing a right-back with another right-back rather than a more attack-minded option.

There have been indications of late though that the players are also not giving their all for their manager, with Chelsea drawing three of their last four.

This includes blowing a 2-0 lead at home to relegation candidates Southampton and a dour 0-0 draw in the Capital One Cup semi final second leg with Swansea, when two goals had to be made up.

One of the big problems facing Chelsea is that if they cut ties with Benitez now, there are not a great deal of options to bring in as a replacement.

Most of the leading options would not be available until at least the summer, with Jose Mourinho and David Moyes among the names that have been most heavily linked.

Although there are some suggestions that Roman Abramovich is considering treading a similar path to when appointing Roberto Di Matteo as manager by turning to Brighton’s Gus Poyet.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date