Tim Sherwood believes Liam Rosenior will not survive Chelsea's thrashing at Brighton and Hove Albion and has named Andoni Iraola as the ideal candidate to replace him. The Blues have now endured five consecutive Premier League defeats without scoring, their worst such run in the league since November 1912, over 113 years ago.

Rosenior's side have gathered just five points from their last nine games, with only Tottenham Hotspur, on two, having performed worse during that spell. Chelsea will not return to league action for over a fortnight, with their FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United next, and by the time they take on Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge, they could have dropped as low as 14th in the table.

Speaking on Sky Sports in the wake of the Brighton defeat, Sherwood delivered a scathing verdict on their performance. He said: "They were outplayed in every way, in style, build-up, in possession, out of possession, it was a team playing a bunch of individuals, no spirit, no character.

"They were watching at the end there going over to the Chelsea fans - half of them had left the stadium 20 minutes ago. It's not only your ability, it's your desire to wear the shirt. It was embarrassing, the room that Brighton had. Liam Rosenior changed it at half-time, but he has to recognise that sooner."

Sherwood continued: "Three goals is the least Brighton deserved. I don't like saying it, there are demonstrations and flags out against BlueCo, Liam Rosenior will not survive this, he will not, unfortunately for him. It's a real tough job for any manager to survive this environment. Chelsea is a development club."

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Sherwood also weighed in on who ought to succeed Rosenior. The former Aston Villa and Tottenham boss backed Iraola for the job following the recent announcement that he'd be leaving Bournemouth at the end of the season. He told Boyle Sports: "I'll tell you one man who would do it at Chelsea, that's Andoni Iraola. If Iraola was up for grabs at the end of the season, if they want to make a change and they want an elite manager who's willing to do whatever they want him to do, because he's done that at Bournemouth.

"We're talking about a man who lost a whole back five last year, but they never went to two-bob clubs; they went to Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool and then this season, their best player goes to Man City in January. The man just gets on with it, keeps his mouth shut. 'That's the job, I know the job, I will just concentrate on developing it'."

He added: "The man knows, if they don't change the goalposts on him halfway through, if they say, 'This is the job, this is what we want you to do,' he'll just get on with it, like he has, he's not murmured, he's just got on with the job. He's an elite manager and a top-drawer manager. He'll be a perfect fit for them, but there'll be a queue round the block for his services."