Title turnaround is not impossible, insists Andre Villas-Boas

11 April 2012

Chelsea boss Andre-Villas Boas insisted his side's Premier League title ambitions were not over despite their late defeat to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

Glen Johnson's strike two minutes from time gave the Reds a 2-1 win and condemned Chelsea to their third defeat in their last four league outings.

Villas-Boas acknowledged last night's defeat dealt a serious blow to Chelsea's title hopes, but remains bullish.

"It's not impossible to turn it around," he said. "It's not the brightest of starts for Chelsea in the Premier League in the last 10 years, but the belief is there.

"It doesn't look good being 12 points behind the leaders, a strong leader, but the December fixtures give us hope if we're able to make the most of it."

The loss capped Chelsea's worst start to a season since Roman Abramovich bought the club eight years ago.

And, with the Russian having sacked five managers during that period, Villas-Boas' job security is already being questioned.

However, the Chelsea boss was confident Abramovich remained fully behind him, claiming the Russian would not have paid a world record £13million to prise him from Porto this summer only to sack him at the first sign of trouble.

"It's not a question of the owner having patience", Villas-Boas said.

"We have set out to build something new at this club and the club is committed to taking what we're building to the future.

"The owner didn't pay 15 million euros to get me out of Porto to pay me another fortune to get out. Our commitment is towards the club and what we are doing in the future."

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish insisted no-one in football would be casting doubt on Villas-Boas' Chelsea revolution after his Liverpool side piled the pressure on his opposite number.

Dalglish said: "No-one in the football profession will be questioning him.

"I don't know the lad, but he had a fantastic CV at Porto. I don't know what the criticism will be, but there's huge respect for him in the football profession."

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