Liam Rosenior’s tenure as Chelsea manager took another turn for the worse over the weekend, as the Blues were convincingly beaten 3–0 by Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
The result marked a third consecutive Premier League defeat without scoring, leaving the west London club in serious danger of missing out on Champions League qualification.
Chelsea now sit sixth in the table and are four points adrift of fifth-placed Liverpool. Additionally, Brentford, Everton, Brighton, Sunderland and Bournemouth are all within three points or fewer, intensifying the pressure as the season reaches boiling point.
With that in mind, attention turns to the betting markets, where Sky Bet have priced up the favourites to be in charge of Chelsea for the opening game of next season.
Despite the club’s poor run of form - including an 8–2 aggregate defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16 - Rosenior remains the frontrunner to still be at Stamford Bridge for the first fixture of the 2026–27 campaign.
At the time of writing, the 41-year-old is priced as an odds-on favourite at 17/20.
Former Chelsea defender Filipe Luis is next in the market at 5/2. The Brazilian most recently managed Flamengo, but was relieved of his duties last month.
Fabregas is currently in charge of Como, while Glasner is set to depart Crystal Palace at the end of the season.
Meanwhile, Hernandez most recently managed Barcelona, a spell in which he secured two trophies during his time at the helm.
A full list of the candidates in Sky Bet's market can be found below.
Sky Bet favourites to be the Chelsea manager for the first game of the 2026-27 season:
Liam Rosenior - 17/20
Filipe Luis - 5/2
Cesc Fabregas - 4/1
Oliver Glasner - 9/2
Xavi Hernandez - 6/1
Roberto De Zerbi - 15/2
Marco Silva - 9/1
Unai Emery - 10/1
Frank Lampard - 11/1
Andoni Iraola - 14/1
Fabian Hurzeler - 16/1
Luis Enrique - 20/1
Julian Nagelsmann - 22/1
Kjetil Knutsen - 25/1
Xabi Alonso - 25/1
Ruben Amorim - 33/1
Jurgen Klopp - 33/1
Thomas Tuchel - 33/1
Zinedine Zidane - 33/1
Jose Mourinho - 40/1