AVB: I’m staying even if we lose

Andre Villas-Boas has dismissed suggestions he will be sacked as Chelsea manager if his side lose at Napoli tonight and insists he is already planning for next season.

The Portuguese has been under constant scrutiny since succeeding Carlo Ancelotti in the summer and it had been suggested he will be lose his job if the first leg of tonight’s Champions League second round clash goes disastrously wrong.

Yet despite having failed to win in four games, the 34-year-old mounted a robust defence of his ‘project’, claiming Roman Abramovich, the owner, was fully behind him.