Liam Rosenior Sacked: Chelsea Part Ways With Manager After Five-Game Premier League Losing Streak

Chelsea sacked Liam Rosenior as manager on Wednesday (April 22, 2026) after a disastrous Premier League run of five defeats without scoring a goal. The Blues confirmed his departure after less than four months in the job and just days before they take on Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final.

Rosenior's assistant Calum McFarlane will be the interim manager until the end of the season.

“This has not been a decision the club has taken lightly, however recent results and performances have fallen below the necessary standards with still so much more to play for this season,” Chelsea said in a statement.

The five-game losing streak is Chelsea's worst since 1912 — the same year the Titanic sank.

Having won the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025, Chelsea are now likely to miss out on next season’s Champions League. That would mean a big financial setback for a club that has pumped in billions of dollars under American owners Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly.

A 3-0 loss to Brighton proved to be Rosenior's last straw. It was a seventh defeat in eight matches across competitions for the Blues. The 41-year-old was hired from Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg in January 2026 and is an inexperienced coach at the highest level.

Chelsea have won just one of their previous nine games in the English top-flight, are seventh in the standings and seven points adrift of the top five, who all advance to the Champions League. Rosenior turned on his players following the Brighton match, saying the performance was “indefensible” and that “something needs to change drastically.”

The club’s management apparently agreed and Rosenior’s short-lived tenure was slammed shut despite Chelsea preparing for their FA Cup last-four encounter.

Rosenior replaced Enzo Maresca in January and only managed the team for 23 games. He began well with six wins in his first seven games, but suffered a drastic downturn in recent weeks, including elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.

Rosenior is the fifth (permanent) head coach to be sacked since Clearlake and Boehly bought Chelsea in 2022. Now the search is on for a sixth to try to bring sustained success.

“As the club works to bring stability to the head coach position, we will undertake a process of self-reflection to make the right long-term appointment,” the Chelsea statement noted.