Rodgers, Lampard, or Gerrard? Who will be the first Premier League manager to go?

We are just three games into the Premier League season, and some fans are already calling for their managers to be sacked.

In this article, we have set out why Brendan Rodgers, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard are favourites to be the first to go, according to the bookies.

If you’re looking for betting tips on this market, look no further than this piece.

 

Brendan Rodgers (Leicester City) – 1/2

Rumours are gathering pace that Brendan Rodgers could resign as Leicester City boss after fans on social media seem to favour sacking the Irish manager.

As a result, Rodgers is now 1/2 favourite to be the first Premier League manager to leave post, according to the bookies.

Central to the fans’ frustrations seems to be Leicester’s lack of activity in the transfer market, with the Foxes making just one signing so far – Alex Smithies, a third-choice goalkeeper – despite Rodgers promising “five or six new” players.

The past three seasons have been frustrating for Leicester supporters, after just missing out on Champions League football in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns, before backsliding to a ninth-place finish last season.

Rodgers did help them to their first FA Cup win in 2021 though, so his time with the club certainly hasn’t been all bad.

The former-Liverpool boss must do some business if he wants to keep his job. Leicester lost their stalwart keeper Kasper Schmeichel a few weeks ago and still haven’t replaced him, and while clubs around them are building, they haven’t moved forward at all this summer.

Results aren’t helping either. They’ve picked up just one point so far and were beaten by a struggling Southampton on Saturday… they truly are a shadow of their former league title-winning selves.

Their next three matches are:

Chelsea (a)

Manchester United (h)

Brighton (a)

If they can’t get at least three points from these games, it could be all over for Rodgers.

 

Frank Lampard (Everton) – 11/2

Everton are already struggling, picking up just one point after a draw with Nottingham Forest at Goodison Park, a game which they could have easily lost.

Evertonians always demand the best from their team, and they haven’t got that for a long, long time. Frank Lampard isn’t necessarily to blame, but if the poor results continue then it could be a matter of time until the anger is directed at him.

The Toffees’ majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has been through seven managers since he bought the club in 2016, and after spending over £500m, Everton have got worse, not better. Should they fail to pick up some results soon, Moshiri’s trigger finger may get twitchy again.

The main reason for the fans’ frustration is the fact they still haven’t signed a striker. Dominic Calvert Lewin has proved himself to be very injury prone, with the Englishman missing the majority of last season and already being expected to be out for another month. And now they have an aging Solomon Rondon to rely upon.

One Everton fan tweeted over the weekend: “If Everton don’t sign a striker there’s no way we don’t go down. Simple as that.”

In fairness, the Toffees have done some decent business in signing Connor Coady, James Tarkowski, Dwight McNeil and Ruben Vinagre, but they need to do more.

The fans’ anger seems to be directed more at the board than at Lampard, but the fact that the English boss has stuck with a five at the back formation, despite going behind in every match, has been a source of frustration.

Everton’s next three league games are:

Brentford (a)

Leeds United (a)

Liverpool (h)

There’s a good chance they could get zero points from these matches. If that turns out to be the case, you can predict a lot of Evertonian’s will start calling for Lampard’s head, especially if it’s a particularly embarrassing derby loss.

Saying that, if Everton beat Liverpool, he’ll be a hero once again.

 

Steven Gerrard (Aston Villa) – 5/1

The third-most likely manager to be sacked according to the bookies is Aston Villa’s Steven Gerrard.

The fans had high expectations when Gerrard joined last season, after winning the Scottish Premiership with Rangers without losing a game, but it’s fair to say he’s struggled at Villa so far.

Gerrard has been given a lot of money to spend. This summer, he has signed Phillipe Coutinho for £18m, Diogo Carlos for £28m and Robin Olson for £3m. Last season, he bought Emiliano Buendia for £35m, Leon Bailey for £28m, Lucas Digne for £27m and Danny Ings for £26m… and yet they still only finished 14th. Stevie G needs to start getting some results, and fast.

Gerrard also has a pretty poor record with Villa; his win percentage being almost as bad as that of his predecessor Dean Smith. Gerrard currently has a win percentage of 35%, while Smith was sacked with 32%... and if that is anything to go by, Gerrard is just a few bad results away from being shown the door, especially given the money he’s spent.

It’s also worth mentioning that Gerrard lost his assistant manager and former Rangers number two Michael Beale when he was made QPR manager in June, who many thought was the ‘brains’ behind Rangers’ title win. Ever since, the Liverpool legend’s tactics have come under increasing criticism.

Villa’s next three matches are:

West Ham (h)

Arsenal (a)

Manchester City (h)

Like Lampard, if he ends up with zero points from those matches, he could find himself without a job very soon.