Amidst the fall out at Chelsea Football club the new job vacancy has attracted some understandable speculation within Premier League circles. Amongst those early names linked with the job are:
Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea interim manager): Former Chelsea midfielder and first team coach, the Italian last managed at Premier League West Brom in 2011.
Rafael Benitez (unattached): Guided Liverpool to the Champions League title. The Spaniard also enjoyed great success at Valencia. Left Inter Milan in December 2010.
Fabio Capello (unattached): England's recently-departed Italian manager has managed Real Madrid, AC Milan, Roma and Juventus. Has won the domestic league title with every club he has coached.
Josep 'Pep' Guardiola (Barcelona, pictured): The Spaniard has been at Barcelona for four years, and won the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League in his first season.
Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid): Chelsea's most successful manager won back-to-back league crowns. On-course to becoming the first man to win league titles in England, Italy and Spain.
David Moyes (Everton): Despite the lack of major silverware, the Scot has built a solid reputation at Goodison park of overachieving on a limited budget.
Andre Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea on Sunday after less than a year in charge at Stamford Bridge.
A statement on the club's website read: "Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.
"The club is still competing in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts.
"With that in mind, we felt our only option was to make a change at this time."
Since Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003, the club has captured three Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two League Cups but have not won a trophy since Carlo Ancelloti led them to the League and FA Cup double for the first time in their history in 2010.
