Chelsea have endured one of their toughest seasons in their modern history under no fewer than four different head coaches, but the current man in charge, Frank Lampard,, has pointed to upcoming opponents Arsenal as an example of how fortunes can turn around.
A London derby awaits the Blues on Tuesday night, with Lampard still searching for his first win since returning to the club for his second stint in charge, with many fans despairing at the situation which appears to worsen with every game.
However, whilst he may not be at the helm for much longer, the 44-year-old was keen to highlight the Gunners as a prime example of a team which has bounced back from a tough period.
"I think it’s interesting to compare the Arsenal story. We all had a little insight into Arsenal with the Amazon series and I think when you see what they’re producing now, myself as a football person, the interesting thing about watching the series was that there’s a long process to get to where you want to get to," he said.
"If I remember playing against Mikel’s teams in that early stage, which were sometimes five at the back, sometimes four, sometimes they build with a four and then they defend with a five and all these things, but now they have a very, very clear identity.
"Through recruitment, they’ve had a change of squad, pretty much the team completely other than the players that have come through, and obviously you always need academy players to come through at a high level and they’ve had that.
"But there’s been a lot of work to that, through Mikel, through the team, through alignment, through good recruitment. If we talk about it as just happening this season and overnight, I think you have to go back to the beginning, and all those tougher periods."
Much has been made of the ownership's somewhat erratic decision-making throughout this season, with many criticising their sudden choice to sack Thomas Tuchel, before removing Graham Potter just a few months later.
Lampard appeared to allude to the suggestion that the board ought to be more patient with those in charge, remarking that giving time to managers can pay dividends later down the line, as shown with the North London side.
"So I think, do we have the possibility to do that? Yes. Will it take a lot of time and good decisions along the way? Absolutely yes. But you can get there - of course those things have probably been a credit to Arsenal.
"Because I saw, and you remember the times when the manager was being questioned quite a few times, the owners were being questioned, the players were being questioned.
"From a coach’s side I think it’s a great thing to see a club stick with a manager, when at another club they may have changed manager two or three times.
"I think they’re a great example of that done well, but it’s part of the answer as to why they are where they are now, alongside very good coaching and good players."
Love for the job unwavering
One player who Chelsea fans will hope might be able to get the team back on track in the final stages of the season is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang,, particularly given his previous time with Arsenal a few years ago.
The striker has struggled since arriving at Stamford Bridge on Deadline Day last year, leading to lengthy runs out of the side, and while Lampard would not be drawn on whether he would start the 33-year-old, he did recognise the potential motivation.
"We all think sometimes a player going back to their old club gives them a certain motivation," admitted Lampard. "I haven’t delved into that too much with Auba himself, so I’ll pick that position on my feeling about how they’ve trained and what the team structure looks like."
"We’ll see. I’ve got Auba, got Kai [Havertz], got David Fofana. I’m obviously not going to divulge the team right here but he [Aubameyang] is fit and ready."
One of the major problems that appears to have occurred at Chelsea of late is a severe downturn in confidence amongst the playing squad, with chances in front of goal going begging on a regular basis.
It is an issue which has plagued the team for some time now, and is not a new phenomenon under Lampard, but it does seem to have sunk even lower in recent weeks, which the head coach acknowledged was an issue.
"They're low on confidence and they’re also low on performance. I shouldn’t distinguish that and make it all about confidence - you can only work to get a level of performance to then bring confidence back.
"So the only thing we can do is consider the moment now, and the future as a club, and work very hard to get the squad where we want it, and also to get the players performing, so that that confidence word is not a big word I’m using in my press conference every week.
"But it’s clearly an issue at the minute that needs to be addressed, and it only gets addressed with self-responsibility in the first place, throughout the club, to then make it better."
It has been an extremely difficult start to his second stint as head coach for Lampard, with just a single goal scored since his return almost a month ago, as this hellish season continues to drag on for the Blues.
Nevertheless, he was keen to stress that he still felt privileged to be in charge, no matter the circumstances, and would look to end the season on a high.
"I was eyes open when I came into this job. I’m too experienced in football, first as a player and now as a coach, to understand that things don’t necessarily change overnight in terms of results and we’ve seen that.
"Our job is to work on the performance and mentality of the group in training to try and bring back good feeling, firstly, but good feeling only comes with hard work as I say.
So I enjoy that challenge and I was very aware of the challenges coming in and I’m very proud to manage the club. I love being here and I enjoy doing my job."