Former Chelsea defender Mario Melchiot has urged Blues chairman Todd Boehly to sack Graham Potter, insisting the manager 'would not have lasted' during his time at the club.
Added pressure piled on Potter after Chelsea's miserable 2-0 defeat at Tottenham last weekend, with several fans voicing their frustration towards the current state of the team, who are sitting 10th in the Premier League and 14 points adrift from the top four.
Despite splashing over £600million across two transfer windows this season, Chelsea have only won nine out of 26 matches under Potter, who has so far been backed by Boehly and the Blues board.
Chelsea's crucial Champions League second leg against Borussia Dortmund next week could well be make or break for Potter, but for now the head coach is preparing his troops for their home clash against relegation-threatened Leeds on Saturday.
Melchiot believes the ex-Brighton boss has been extremely fortunate to avoid the sack so far, claiming that Potter would already be out of the club were he managing in the early 2000s.
'In my time, Graham Potter wouldn't last, that's all I can say,' Melchiot, who represented Chelsea between 1999 and 2004, told ESPN.
'When I was playing, no. I feel sorry for him, I know everyone is talking about him, but with results like this... I have to be sorry and make a change.'
Struggling to score goals since the Premier League restart, Chelsea have suffered 10 defeats in their last 17 matches, all but losing any hope of turning around their poor start to the campaign and qualifying for next season's Champions League.
Winning the decorated European competition this year would be Potter's only chance of qualifying at the end of the season, but his side suffered a 1-0 defeat against Dortmund in the last-16 first leg earlier this month and overturning the loss seems an unlikely prospect.
Chelsea have a history of making successes out of their impatience with managers in the past, profiting from a lack of tolerance under former owner Roman Abramovich.
The club's last Champions League success came directly after axing Frank Lampard from the hotseat - former boss Thomas Tuchel took the reins and went straight on to win the 2020-21 competition.
Similarly, almost a decade earlier, Andre Villas-Boas was sacked after less than a year in charge of the club, handing over responsibility to interim manager Roberto Di Matteo, who went on the lift the Champions League trophy in 2012.
Melchiot made 130 appearances for the club during his five-year stint at Stamford Bridge, before moving on to play for Birmingham, Rennes, Wigan and Qatari outfit Umm Salal.