Former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti ‘favourite to take over at Arsenal’

Arsenal are said to be interested in former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti who was sacked by Italian giants Napoli on Tuesday night.

The illustrious Italian manager led his side to an impressive 4-0 win over Genk thanks to a hattrick from Arkadiusz Milik and a penalty from Dries Mertens which helped Napoli finish second in their Champions League group and thus qualify for the knockout stages.

Despite being unbeaten in the group stages and only finishing a point behind reigning European champions Liverpool, Ancelotti was given the boot soon after their impressive win.

Many football fans were perplexed as to why the former Real Madrid boss was let go having helped Napoli get into the knockout stages but extremely poor form in Serie A and politics behind the scenes were the main reasons for his sacking.

Gli Azzurri last won a league fixture in the middle of October and currently sit in 7th place, 17 points adrift of league leaders Inter Milan.

The arrival of Ancelotti was to help the team from the capital win the Serie A after numerous unsuccessful close attempts by his predecessor Maurizio Sarri, who now manages Juventus.

In addition to Napoli’s poor league form, the players and the manager had a huge dispute with president Aurelio de Laurentiis.

De Laurentiis ordered the team to attend a week-long training camp, which is common practice in Italy for a team that is in bad form. However, Ancelotti and his players all returned home causing a huge falling out with both the president and the club’s fans.

Following Ancelotti’s dismissal, rumours have circulated with him having a potential return to the Premier League with Arsenal the main target.

Everton are also said to be amongst the clubs interested in the manager who is one one of only three managers to win three European Cups or Champions Leagues – along with Liverpool‘s Bob Paisley and current Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane.

The bookies have already shortened his odds of taking over at Arsenal to 2/1 making him the favourite for the permanent job.

Arsenal are currently in 9th place in the Premier League and are 7 points adrift of a top-four place. Former player Freddie Ljunbjerg has taken over on a temporary basis following the dismissal of Unai Emery.

The Invincibles member recorded his first win on Monday against West Ham but it is reported that the club are more interested in having a proven manager like Ancelotti at the helm.