Fulham have announced the appointment of Claudia Ranieri as they sacked Slavisa Jokanovic.

Jokanovic became the first Premier League manager to lose his job this season with Fulham sitting bottom of the Premier League table with just one win to their name this season.

Jokanovic guided Fulham to promotion last term, but they have been off the pace in the Premier League and owner Shahid Khan has taken action and moved quickly for former Leicester boss Ranieri.

“Making a change without having the right answer or succession plan was not an option, so having someone of Claudio’s calibre ready to accept our challenge was comforting but, most of all, essential,” said Khan.

Despite the appointment, Bookmakers are not convinced that the popular Italian will save them.

Fulham are at 1/2 with Coral to be relegated from the Premier League this season. They are 10/11 to be bottom at Christmas and can be backed at 7/5 to stay up this season.

“Ranieri will have a lot of work on his hands based on Fulham’s start to the season and he’s going to have to start getting results quickly if they’re to survive this season. We make them odds on to return to the Championship after just one season back in the top tier,” said Coral’s Harry Aitkenhead.

Fulham are 50-1 for a top ten finish, and 1000-1 to break into the top four this season.

“Ranieri has defied the odds before and any punters backing some similar magic from the Italian can get some lengthy odds on a top ten finish and 1000-1 on them sealing a top four berth this season,” added Aitkenhead.