Everton sacked manager Marco Silva after 18 months in charge at Goodison Park on Thursday after a 5-2 thrashing by Liverpool saw the club fall into the relegation zone.
“Everton Football Club can confirm that manager Marco Silva has left the Club,” Everton said in a statement.
“Duncan Ferguson has taken temporary charge of the first team and will manage the side for the game against Chelsea on Saturday.”
David Moyes has been linked with a return to Goodison as Silva’s successor as a stop-gap until the end of the season.
Silva becomes the fourth Premier League manager to be sacked in little over two weeks after Tottenham, Arsenal and Watford also fired Mauricio Pochettino, Unai Emery and Quique Sanchez Flores respectively.
The former Hull and Watford boss becomes the fourth managerial casualty since Farhad Moshiri took charge of Everton in 2016 after Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce.