Sacking manager Jose Mourinho midway through the season will serve no purpose, former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has said.
Chelsea suffered their ninth Premier League defeat of the season at Leicester City on Monday and slumped to 16th place in the table, a point above the relegation zone, raising fresh speculation about Mourinho's future.
However, Lampard said the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, should keep faith with Mourinho instead of changing managers in the middle of the campaign.
"They are probably not going to make the top four anyway or the top six. They're not going to get relegated I think if we are honest so I'm sure there's a view from Roman Abramovich to say, 'Hang on, let's see what happens at the end of the season'.
"I have to say what they set out to do when Jose Mourinho came back was to have a long-term plan. What can they gain by getting rid of him now?"