New Year, new managers.
Chelsea kicked things off when they sacked Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day, before Manchester United parted company with Ruben Amorim four days later.
Now, after a pair of February firings this week, there have been four Premier League sackings already in 2026, the most ever seen across the first two months of a calendar year.
Tottenham Hotspur reignited the sacking spree when they dismissed Thomas Frank on Wednesday, while Nottingham Forest relieved Sean Dyche of his duties less than 24 hours later, releasing a statement in the early hours of Thursday following their 0-0 draw at home to last-place-by-a-mile Wolverhampton Wanderers the previous evening.
Both Tottenham and Forest have a turbulent history of mid-season managerial upheaval.
Of the 188 mid-season sackings (a figure that excludes managers who left their role voluntarily) in the 34-year Premier League era, Tottenham account for 14, more than any other club. They have now appointed former Juventus head coach Igor Tudor until the end of the season.
Forest, who have featured in 25 fewer Premier League seasons than Tottenham, have the highest dismissal rate, sacking a manager on average every 56.3 matches. Owner Evangelos Marinakis appointed Vitor Pereira on Sunday, making this the first time a Premier League club has employed four ‘permanent’ managers in the same season. Pereira was himself a casualty earlier this season, dismissed by Wolves in November.
Dyche’s draw against Wolves, despite Forest managing 35 shots in the match, proved his undoing. This is only the second time a Premier League manager has been dismissed having faced the men from Molineux in his final match. The other was Nathan Jones, sacked by Southampton this month three years ago after a 2-1 defeat, lasting just 94 days in the job.
But which sides do Premier League managers most often face before the axe falls?
Liverpool lead the way here, with 13 bosses dismissed in the aftermath of an encounter with the Merseyside club.
They delivered the final blow to Jose Mourinho’s reign at Manchester United, winning 3-1 at Anfield in December 2018. Scott Parker, now in charge of Burnley, was sacked by Bournemouth after a 9-0 defeat at Liverpool in August 2022. It remains the heaviest defeat preceding a Premier League dismissal.
Liverpool have also been in the front row for the final curtain of three Fulham managers: Jean Tigana (2002-03), Rene Meulensteen (2013-14), and Slavisa Jokanovic (2018-19). The only other instance of a club sacking three managers after the same opponent involves Crystal Palace, with Steve Coppell, Alan Pardew and Roy Hodgson all dismissed after facing Chelsea.
As two of the six ever-present Premier League clubs since it began play in 1992, it is little surprise that Liverpool and Chelsea rank towards the top of this list, having had more opportunities to face under-pressure managers.
Adjusted for games played, the list takes on a distinctly lower-mid-table feel, topped by Wigan Athletic, who spent much of their eight Premier League seasons treading water before finally succumbing to relegation in 2012-13.
They ushered five Premier League managers to their exits, with the most memorable dismissal arriving in the wake of the greatest moment in the club’s history. Wigan’s 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the 2012-13 FA Cup final was such a seismic upset that it fast-tracked the dismissal of Roberto Mancini, who was sacked two days later.
Among the current crop of Premier League sides, Bournemouth sit highest, with an opposition manager departing once every 82.5 games — most recently Maresca, who left two days after Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with them.
They are fifth in the all-time per-game list, but over the past four years, there has been one golden rule for beleaguered managers: do not lose to West Ham United. Bruno Lage (Wolves) in 2022, Frank Lampard (Everton) in 2023, Erik ten Hag (Manchester United) in 2024, and Nuno Espirito Santo (Forest) in 2025 were all sacked after a defeat against the east London side.
Tottenham Hotspur replaced George Graham with Glenn Hoddle in March 2001 (Craig Prentis /Allsport)
Their 3-0 defeat by visitors West Ham in August brought a familiar and ominous sight for Forest managers: a visibly disgruntled Marinakis glowering down from the directors’ box at the City Ground.
Marinakis’ four Forest sackings have all followed losses at home, and he rarely allows his temper to cool, dismissing three of those managers within 24 hours of the match ending. Only Nuno was afforded a longer reprieve, with Marinakis waiting just over a week before dismissing him during the September international break.
Turgid home performances in front of your own fans rarely help a manager’s case, and the toxic atmosphere that greeted Frank after Tottenham’s 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle United last Tuesday night made his position untenable. But it is away matches that account for a slight majority of dismissals, at 53 per cent.
There is minor evidence that managers are granted more clemency on their travels. The most common scoreline preceding a sacking after an away defeat is 3-0, compared to 2-1 at home, suggesting that a slender loss on the road is punished less regularly.
In rare cases, not even victory is enough to mask the wider malaise that has placed a manager on the chopping block. Twelve have been sacked after a win, most recently Daniel Farke, now in charge of Leeds United, who was dismissed by Norwich City in November 2021 with the club bottom of the Premier League, despite beating Brentford 2-1 away hours earlier.
The decision to sack a manager rarely hinges on a single game, but there are telltale signs when a match is a must-win. The least subtle example came in David Moyes’ final game as Manchester United manager in April 2013: a 2-0 defeat at Everton, accompanied by a memorable image of a fan in the stands near the dugouts dressed as the Grim Reaper, brandishing an inflatable scythe.
Job security for a Premier League manager grows more precarious by the season. The eight sacked so far in 2025-26 lasted an average of 319 days in charge, the shortest tenure of any single campaign’s cohort of dismissed bosses.
The margins for error are shrinking rapidly.