Just 11 of the 20 Premier League clubs have stuck with their managers all term, as 10 were sacked from Newcastle and Steve Bruce to Manchester United firing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Watford even tore through two head coaches before landing Roy Hodgson in January after doing away with Xisco Munoz and Claudio Ranieri. The Hornets have been the only side to sack two managers in 2021/22. Yet they remain in a relegation battle with five games left.
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Only Arsenal, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester City, Southampton, West Ham and Wolves have kept faith in the current occupants of their hot seats. But pressure was on Mikel Arteta to merit maintaining his role with the Gunners.
Arsenal started the season with their worst opening run of form since 1954/55 with three defeats, each without scoring. The Telegraph even reported after the first two losses that Arteta had five games to merit staying. Yet he has them eying a Champions League berth.
Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, has become the longest-serving manager in the Premier League after six-years, six-months with Liverpool. He replaced Sean Dyche with the record after Burnley sacked the 50-year-old, who had stood at the Turf Moor helm since October 2012.
Xisco Munoz (Watford) – October 3, 2021
Xisco became the first Premier League manager to lose their job in 2021/22 when Watford sacked the Spaniard in October. He had only held the position for 10-months, as well, after arriving the prior December before securing their promotion as Championship runners-up.
The 41-year-old oversaw a combined 36 games at the Vicarage Road side, including seven in the top-flight. But Watford only managed to win two Premier League games with Xisco, to one draw and four defeats. They also failed to keep a clean sheet with 10 goals allowed.
Watford felt they had to fire Xisco with the club 15th in the Premier League table and five points from the drop zone. Only Leeds (6), Southampton (4), Burnley, Newcastle (3) and Norwich (1) had taken fewer points than the Hornets through the opening seven games.
Steve Bruce (Newcastle) – October 20, 2021
Newcastle wasted little time following their £305m Saudi-backed takeover in October to fire Bruce and appoint Eddie Howe. Form continued to allude the Magpies by the eight-game mark, with the Toon winless in 19th-place on three points ahead of Norwich with just two.
No side had conceded more goals than the 19 United allowed under Bruce, either. And a solution never seemed likely, as Newcastle toiled to their second-worst start to a Premier League season behind the 2018/19 campaign, with two points from 10 under Rafa Benitez.
Newcastle opting to sack Bruce and hire Howe has proven the right call, as well. The Toon now rank ninth on 43 points after 34 games. They are even closer to the European places than the drop zone, helped by going unbeaten at St James’ Park in their last eight games.
Nuno Espirito Santo (Tottenham) – November 1, 2021
Hiring Nuno Espirito Santo as Jose Mourinho’s replacement was not Tottenham’s plan last summer. The Portuguese did not even crack the top-five names on Spurs’ shortlist, per the Mirror, yet got given the reigns and enjoyed a lively Manager of the Month-winning start.
Tottenham topped the table by the end of August as the only side to win each of their first three games. They even kept clean sheets in all three, yet then lost five of their next seven. Spurs also lost 13-1 to Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham and Manchester United.
Defeat to the Red Devils proved the final straw for chairman Daniel Levy, who fired Nuno and appointed Antonio Conte – who he had wanted to replace Mourinho. Tottenham now rank fifth and are battling Arsenal and Manchester United for the final top-four position.
Daniel Farke (Norwich) – November 6, 2021
Norwich saw the looming threat of a prolonged relegation battle in November and sacked Daniel Farke after four years and winning two Championship titles. The Canaries’ decision even came just hours after the German oversaw their first Premier League win this season.
Farke’s side edged Brentford 2-1 on the road on matchday 11, yet remained bottom of the pack behind Newcastle. They had also taken over the worst defensive record with 26 goals conceded, two more than the Toon and six more than Aston Villa who soon followed suit.
Dean Smith (Aston Villa) – November 7, 2021
One day after Norwich sacked Farke, Aston Villa used the November international break to fire Dean Smith and hire Steven Gerrard from Rangers as their new manager. The Villans had lost five on the spin under Smith, to sit just two points above the relegation zone.
He would only be out of work for a week, though, before the Canaries came calling to offer the 51-year-old Farke’s position. Norwich have since won four of their 22 Premier League matches under Smith. But just one of those victories have come during their last 11 games.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, sat as high as ninth on April 1 under Gerrard, but have regressed to rank 15th. Only Watford (0) have taken fewer points than Aston Villa (1) in one fixture more since the start of the month, with the Villans also snapping a four-game winless run.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United) – November 21, 2021
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer returned to Manchester United as the interim head coach to replace Mourinho in 2018 and worked his way into the permanent position. But three-years later, he was out the door after winning just once over his final seven Premier League matches.
Results under the Norwegian left the Red Devils 12-points behind leaders Chelsea. The gap to the top now held by Manchester City has since stretched to 26-points, with interim boss Ralf Rangnick unable to stop the rot with nine wins and six draws from 20 games in charge.
The Red Devils could still qualify for the Champions League this season but need results at Arsenal and Tottenham to fall in their favour. Manchester United sit sixth, six points from Arsenal and four from Spurs – having also played once more than the north London rivals.
Rafa Benitez (Everton) – January 16, 2022
Rafa Benitez was always a controversial appointment for Farhad Moshiri, as Everton hired the former Liverpool boss to replace Carlo Ancelotti last June. His tenure started to dispel some of the resentment as the Toffees began the campaign with a lot of promising signs.
Everton sat fifth in the table up to October 15, with just a two-point deficit to Chelsea atop the table. But following that international break, Benitez only claimed a win and two draws from 12 games – no side across the division claimed fewer points than the Toffees’ five.
Moshiri eventually accepted he made a mistake appointing Benitez and Everton fired him in January to become the seventh Premier League casualty. But only after the Blues gave him greater control of their transfers after parting with their director of football, Marcel Brands.
Frank Lampard arrived to succeed Benitez at the end of January, but he has not managed to stop the rot. The Blues sit inside the relegation zone with six games to play, but have a game in hand over Burnley above that could still see them overturn a two-point deficit.
Claudio Ranieri (Watford) – January 24, 2022
Benitez was not the only Premier League manager on the move this January, as Watford again brought down the axe by sacking Ranieri after just three months and 13 top-flight games in charge. The Italian’s tenure was a disaster, with just two wins to 10 defeats.
Watford’s wins under Ranieri came against Everton in his second match at the helm and Manchester United in his fifth. The Hornets even put four past the Red Devils, but then lost seven of their next eight. A draw at Newcastle in his penultimate game their only point.
Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds) – February 27, 2022
Marcelo Bielsa will go down in Leeds folklore as the man who took the Elland Road outfit back to the Premier League. The Argentine even led the Whites to a top-nine finish in their first year back. But a raft of injuries to key players brought about their demise this season.
Tactical mistakes also saw Manchester City and Liverpool pull the West Yorkshire natives apart. Bielsa was stubborn in sticking with his man-marking system, which played into the title-contenders’ hands. All too easily they picked their way through to 7-0 and 6-0 wins.
Jesse Marsch took up the helm once Leeds sacked Bielsa in February with the club on the cusp of the Premier League relegation zone. The Whites were only two points above the bottom-three, but hold a five-point buffer after three wins and two draws in their last five.
Sean Dyche (Burnley) – April 15, 2022
Dyche’s decade at Turf Moor ended in April as Burnley made their long-serving coach the 10th Premier League manager sacked during the 2021/22 campaign. The Clarets felt they had to fire the Kettering-born tactician with the Turf Moor natives 18th with eight to play.
Yet the decision had no long-term plans in place, with U23s coach Mike Jackson, academy director Paul Jenkins, U23s goalkeeping coach Connor King and captain Ben Mee placed in charge. But Burnley have since drawn with West Ham and beat Southampton and Wolves.
Their makeshift set-up overseeing seven points from nine has lifted the Clarets up to 17th with five to go. But Everton holding a game in hand could swing the tide back in the Blues’ favour. Even if the momentum is flowing at Turf Moor and not at Goodison Park currently.
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