Chelsea sacked manager Frank Lampard on Monday after a poor run of results left them languishing in mid-table in the Premier League.

The Stamford Bridge club said it had been a "very difficult decision" to part ways with the 42-year-old, who is the club's record goal-scorer.

"We are grateful to Frank for what he has achieved in his time as head coach of the club," Chelsea said in a statement.

"However, recent results and performances have not met the club’s expectations, leaving the club mid-table without any clear path to sustained improvement."

The club's Russian owner Roman Abramovich said: "This was a very difficult decision for the club, not least because I have an excellent personal relationship with Frank and I have the utmost respect for him.

"He is a man of great integrity and has the highest of work ethics. However, under current circumstances we believe it is best to change managers."

Former Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel, who was abruptly sacked by the French champions in December, is in line to take over, reports said.

Chelsea are struggling in ninth place in the Premier League table, 11 points behind leaders Manchester United.

They have lost five of their past eight Premier League matches after a good start to the season.

Lampard signed a three-year deal in 2019 and despite a transfer ban, led them to the FA Cup final and a fourth-place finish in his first managerial campaign at Stamford Bridge.

But a huge outlay of around £220 million on new players including Ben Chilwell and German attackers Kai Havertz and Timo Werner has failed to translate into improved results.

Lampard's points-per-game average of 1.67 is the fourth-lowest of any permanent Chelsea manager in the Premier League.

Tuchel only became available a month ago when he left PSG, less than five months after taking them to the Champions League final, which they lost to Bayern Munich.

The 47-year-old German won back-to-back league titles with PSG, but that was not enough to satisfy the club's Qatari owners, who replaced him with former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Prior to PSG, Tuchel impressed at Borussia Dortmund, having started his managerial career with Augsburg and then Mainz.LAMPARD CHELSEA STATS

Frank Lampard's points per game average of 1.67 is the 4th lowest of any permanent Chelsea manager in the Premier League.

In the Roman Abramovich era, only Andre Villas-Boas (47.5%) has a worse win rate in all competitions amongst permanent Chelsea managers than Frank Lampard (52.4%).

Chelsea's average starting XI age in the league under Frank Lampard was 26 years, 58 days - only four sides have been younger in the Premier League since he arrived (Man Utd, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Fulham).

Since the start of last season, Chelsea have won 95 points in the Premier League under Frank Lampard; the fifth most behind Liverpool (133), Man City (119), Man Utd (106) and Leicester City (100).

Since the start of last season, only Newcastle (54) have conceded more away goals in the Premier League than Frank Lampard’s Chelsea (50).

A total of 35 different players appeared for Chelsea under Frank Lampard, with Mason Mount leading the way for appearances (80), while Tammy Abraham was the top scorer (29) under him.

Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in just 17% of their away games in the Premier League under Frank Lampard (5/29); among those to have taken charge of 10+ away games in the competition, this is the lowest percentage of any Chelsea manager.

Since August 2019, Chelsea have won just 15 points against fellow ‘big six’ sides, a joint-low tally alongside Arsenal. The Blues have scored 17 goals and conceded 28 times in 15 such matches.

Chelsea have kept 13 clean sheets in 29 games in all competitions this season, the same tally as they kept in 55 matches in the whole of 2019-20.

Chelsea have lost seven home Premier League matches under Frank Lampard (P28 W15 D6 L7), as many as his predecessors Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri did in 57 games combined (W40 D10 L7), while only Glenn Hoddle (17) and Claudio Ranieri (11) have lost more Premier League games at Stamford Bridge as Blues boss. (AFP)