Chelsea have sacked Roberto Di Matteo after just five months as the team's permanent manager, and becomes the eighth manager to be shown the door since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.

Two defeats against West Brom and Juventus in the past week see Chelsea behind the two Manchester clubs in the Premier League and on the verge of becoming the first European champions to exit the Champions League at the group stage in the following season.

In a club statement Chelsea said:

"The team's recent performances and results have not been good enough and the owner and the Board felt that a change was necessary now to keep the club moving in the right direction as we head into a vitally important part of the season."

They added that,

"The club will be making an announcement shortly regarding a new first-team manager."

The 42 year old became caretaker manager at Stamford Bridge after Andre Villas-Boas was sacked by the club in March with the Blues lying outside the Champions League places.

Under his stewardships Chelsea won both the FA Cup against Liverpool and the Champions League final on penalties against Bayern Munich, therefore guaranteeing the club's place in Europe this season. But even after these achievements, there were doubts that the club's owner Roman Abramovich really wanted the Italian in charge of the side, with rumours of Pep Guardiola taking over the Blues on-going throughout the summer.

The former Barcelona boss will be seen as one of the favourite to take the reins at Stamford Bridge on a permanent basis, though Abramovich has spoken to fellow Spaniard Rafa Benitez about taking over the team for the rest of the season.

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner