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Maurizio Sarri will be sacked by Chelsea as soon as it becomes apparent that the club can't qualify for next season's Champions League, according to The Times .

Disastrous recent results such as the 4-0 loss at Bournemouth and 6-0 hammering by Manchester City have begun to seriously erode the trust in the former Napoli boss at Stamford Bridge, where he is cutting an increasingly isolated figure.

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck even took to surprise step of attending Sarri's press conference prior to Thursday's Europa League tie at Malmo to keep an eye on the Italian.

Winning the Europa League is one of the avenues that will lead to Chelsea returning to the Champions League, and it could be that Sarri now takes that competition more seriously.

(Image: Action Images via Reuters)

The Blues currently sit sixth in the Premier League, level on points with Arsenal .

Manchester United's revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has seen them take the coveted fourth spot, one point ahead of the London pair, with all three clubs having played 26 games.

Sarri's brief when he took the job was to get Chelsea back into Europe's elite competition, which they have failed to participate in during two of the last three seasons, including the current one.

The Blues do face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final next weekend, but winning that competition isn't expected to be enough to save Sarri's job.