Under-fire Rafa claims Roman a fan of his work

Rafael Benitez insists Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is happy progress is being made following his appointment as interim boss.

Since his appointment as Roberto Di Matteo’s successor, former Liverpool manager Benitez has had to battle derision from fans.

Abramovich is perhaps the hardest critic to satisfy, given his penchant for hiring and firing, but Benitez described talks following the 2-1 defeat of Arsenal on Sunday as positive.

During the Russian billionaire’s Caribbean holiday, intermediaries carried messages between Benitez and Abramovich, who returned from his break to watch the display at Stamford Bridge as the Blues moved 11 points behind Premier League leaders Manchester United.

“We have people that talk with him and I have the information,” Benitez said. “The other day I had time with him and he was really pleased. He was really pleased with the game.

“He has ideas. I have ideas. We share ideas. We explained to each other what we’re trying to do. It’s fine.”

Chelsea were in contention for seven trophies at the start of the season and now it is four, including the Capital One Cup, where Benitez’s side must overturn a 2-0 deficit at Swansea in the semi-final, second leg tonight.

The Spaniard believes, following a challenging start, that Chelsea are moving in the right direction, although he admits his side could perform better.

He added: “In a transitional period — we have new players and some of them are at the end of their contracts — I think it’s a team that is growing and is improving.

“As a manager you have to be satisfied with this. As a manager of a top side you want to win trophies; still we have to try to do better to win trophies.

“I think the priority for the club is to be in the top four and try to win trophies at the same time. If you talk with the players they say we’re going in the right direction.”

With speculation linking Pep Guardiola to Chelsea at an end following his agreement to coach Bayern Munich next season, silverware would strengthen Benitez’s claims for a permanent contract.

He was reluctant to comment on non-footballing matters and his future ahead of the Swansea clash, where he will come up against another former Barcelona midfielder, Swansea boss Michael Laudrup, who has impressed since moving to the Liberty Stadium.

Benitez has confidence his side can overturn their deficit, but believes Swansea are favourites.

“At the moment they are favourites,” he said. “I’m sure they will be delighted if they can go to the final, so they have some pressure too.”

For his part, Laudrup, conscious of Chelsea’s excellent away record, has encouraged his side to be bold and not sit on their 2-0 lead.

The Dane knows attempting to simply hold on to their advantage could be a recipe for disaster.

He said: “They have been muchbetter away than at home.

“They won 4-0 at Stoke, they got five against Southampton and against Leeds. They also won at Everton, so they are maybe the best away team in the Premier League.

“It is different to start a game from 0-0 rather than 2-0, but the onlydanger is if we think can go out and just defend, 90 minutes is a very long time to do that.

“We have to be prepared to do a little of both.’’