Six games into Frank Lampard's second coming at Chelsea and the prodigal son has yet to taste anything other than defeat.
Last night's annihilation at the Emirates was perhaps the worst of this miserable run, with Chelsea barely raising a gallop as their London rivals dominated from start to finish.
Sure Chelsea were a mess long before Lampard's return, but the Blues have plunged to new depths since Graham Potter's dismissal in early April.
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Mauricio Pochettino is expected to take charge at Stamford Bridge this Summer, leaving Lampard in the embarrassing position of having his reputation damaged without any possibility of rehabilitation at Chelsea next season.
Just to rub salt into Lampard's wounds, a scathing rant Manchester United legend Roy Keane made all the way back 2020 has resurfaced in the aftermath of the Arsenal defeat - and the Irishman's blunt verdict on Lampard has aged rather well.
Speaking on Sky Sports during Lampard's initial Stamford Bridge tenure, Keane questioned the former Chelsea man's managerial pedigree with his typical ferocity.
He said: "Frank Lampard's lost eight games, but for some reason 'Frank's doing alright'. Maybe because he's English, I don't know. Frank's track record, his CV, he went to Derby and didn't get promoted.
"But Frank's got all the answers for Chelsea? He hasn't."
Lampard's stock was already on the wane after his year-long stint in charge at Everton, who are entrenched in the relegation battle at the foot of the Premier League after a rotten campaign.
But the defiant Blues boss made it clear that the bulk of the current issues plaguing the club can be attributed to the chaos that has occurred behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their takeover last May.
"Chelsea has been a big success for 20 years but at the moment we aren’t in that position,” Lampard told Sky Sports after the crushing midweek defeat at Arsenal. “In the time I’ve been here it’s clear to see behind the scenes, on the training ground, the reasons why. If you’re going to be a nice team to play against all the time it doesn’t matter where you go. That won’t change overnight but we better get there quickly.
“The passive nature of our game you could attribute to many things. The players certainly care. They are low on confidence, but when you play for Chelsea you have to play a certain way even if you are low on confidence.
“Whatever it is, it maybe doesn’t even matter because the only thing that will get you out of it is understanding and working hard. The gap was the other way around for many years.”
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