Andre Villas-Boas has told pals he has ‘no chance' of getting the Liverpool job.
The Portuguese coach, sacked by Chelsea in March, held talks with the Reds earlier this month about replacing sacked Kenny Dalglish in the Anfield dugout.
But after being installed as the bookies' favourite to assume the Kop reins, Villas-Boas, 34, has dropped down the pecking order in the last 24 hours.

Maddy's Note: A guest post from the Blue Corner of this blog.

Let me start this post with a challenge. Go and ask any Chelsea fan about the most memorable night in his life. He will mention the 19th of May ahead of even the night when you know, well you get the point!

Liverpool's increasingly frantic search for a new Manager have them focussed on André Viias-Boas.
According to many reports in the media this weekend, FSG have zoned in on AVB as their choice to succeed King Kenny at Anfield.
On his arrival yesterday at the Portuguese Cup Final between Academica and Sporting, the 34-year-old said: "I'm still choosing the right project and that decision will take the necessary time.

This is it. Chelsea play Bayern Munich at Bayern's home stadium -- the Allianz Arena -- in the 2012 Champions League final. Both sides are looking to make up for recent failures in this match. Chelsea lost the rain-soaked 2008 final to Manchester United after captain John Terry slipped and missed what should have been the winning shot in an excruciating penalty shootout, while Bayern lost the 2010 final to Jose Mourinho's treble-winning Inter.

By Chris Wright

Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers has officially turned down an interview for the vacant Liverpool job this morning, opting to continue with his admirable work in South Wales instead presumably because he reckons there ain't enough ballast in the world to reverse the fortunes of that particular sinking ship.

Former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas is the early favorite, according to the oddmakers, to take over at Anfield. AVB was sacked at Chelsea during the season but still considered by many to be a top notch manager. Other favorites at Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers who are both currently managing other EPL teams.

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo has reiterated his complete focus on this Saturday's Champions League final against Bayern Munich by rubbishing reports of a return to manage West Bromwich Albion.

Di Matteo was relieved of his duties at West Brom last February, only six months into his first season managing in the English top flight.

I have spent most of the day on here catching up with bits and pieces that had been said in recent weeks leading up to the Champions League final and in this post I want to concentrate on Bobby Di Matteo's comments at the Player of the Year awards night last week.
People outside of the club would have just taken what he said with a pinch of salt, but for Chelsea players and supporters it was important to listen.

The Biggest Losers of 2011/12: Liverpool, Manchester United and more - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Despite a fantastically entertaining season with a raft of Premier League winners this term, it has been a campaign to forget for some teams and individuals. Euro 2012, the Olympics and the summer transfer window are approaching, and for some 2011-12 could not come to an end quick enough.

Tonight a jubilant and confident Chelsea travel to Anfield to take Liverpool in the Premier League with a chance to close the gap on Newcastle, Spurs and the Arsenal on the final day of the season as the race for the top four hots up!.
It's a long shot for Chelsea, but after some interesting results this weekend, the door has been left open again and we HAVE TO take the chance to get three important points.

Tonight Fernando Torres should make his first appearance at Anfield for Chelsea after leaving Liverpool 15 months ago. Heavily criticised, ridiculed and with footage of their so called fans burning their own shirts (with his name on), Torres will expect to get plenty of stick.
The thing is, the Fernando Torres Liverpool fans have seen since his move is a distant memory ever since Robbie Di Matteo has taken over.

1. The laws of physics bow to Papiss Cisse. 2. He's also the classiest time-waster OTP has ever seen. Why not run down the clock with an outrageous lob, eh? 3. Richard Scudamore, give the public what they want! Let's get this Joe Jordan v Owen Coyle fight on. 4. The temptation to 'do an [...]

1. Unbeilevable. Just about the most dramatic Champions League semi-final you could imagine. 2. Suddenly £50million is looking like a bit of a snip. But you know what he was thinking as he went through one-on-one. 3. The prospect of Gerard Pique heading off for medical checks and Shakira being left unaccompanied for the evening [.

On the eve of arguably their most important match of the season, Chelsea have strangely shown no signs of any turmoil in Europe. With AVB, they set a new record in the 'least time with one manager' category, and his memory seems to have lasted even less than the man himself. Of course, that might have to do with the sudden resurgence in domestic form, Torres scoring again, John Terry back to managing the team playing through pain and of course the minor matter of having beaten Barcelona.

1. Chelsea are dull- The good old days have returned. After dispensing with the innovative AVB, Chelsea have reverted to their "Mourinho tactics". Who cares if the new style alienates Fernando Torres? It's effective, and that's all that matters....
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After I posted earlier about being written off tomorrow night I wanted to follow up with a post about "The old guard" at Chelsea.
I wrote before the season started that this season would be a big season for the ageing members of the Chelsea squad. Players such as Drogba, Lampard, Cech, Terry etc and it has proven to be the case.

Roberto Di Matteo has taken Chelsea back to basics. With his only previous Premier League management experience being his time as the manager of West Brom, he knows what it means to be in the results business.

When you get a team promoted from the Championship to the top flight, it's often all about getting the best out of limited players, or playing to the strengths of the players you have; you can't go out and get the best players in the country.

We've had two great results in the space of four days and have deservedly celebrated them but now it's time to once again change our focus to the next game and that's Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday.
We all remember what happened earlier in the season at Stamford Bridge, it was a painful day and exposed the flaws in AVB's high defensive line.

Shopping list as per the article on the Daily Mail's webstite this morning here
The Daily Mail this morning (linked in the description of the image above) have posted an article this morning stating that Roman Abramovich will present the new manager of the club with a list of high profile potential signings and to take his pick.

I personally think that Romeu's contract is what is stopping AVB first of all and now Roberto Di Matteo from playing him anymore this season and it's the only explanation I can come up with at the moment as to why Oriol Romeu hasn't featured at all. He last played for the first team back in January and ever since then he has disappeared from view apart from appearances on our substitutes bench.

Ducky's Note: Krish Prashanth is a Chelsea fan and a student of engineering. In the first ever Chelsea game he saw, he watched Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink score against Spurs. Since then, JFH has remained one of his all time favourite strikers. Here he provides a season-so-far review of sorts for Chelsea.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. More, after the jump:

We interrupt this program to bring you special coverage

Right. Back to the domestic front then, and a two-match in three-day stretch seeing the first encounter against a battling Wigan outfit at Stamford Bridge.

The rejuvenation of Chelsea and Torres under John Terry - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

When Roberto Di Matteo John Terry took over at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were reportedly in disarray following the dismissal of Andre Villas-Boas. Castrol stats shows that the Italian Englishman has rejuvenated the Blues since his appointment.

I wrote a post last week about Roberto Di Matteo and the influence he has had on our dressing room since he took over as manager at the club and also about the crap that appeared in the press from Torres' agent stating that they will consider his future at the end of the season.
I explained that Di Matteo has done an amazing job especially winning over the dressing room and getting all the players to play for him and each other once again.

It is a known fact that Roman Abramovich goes into panic mode when his Chelsea team stumbles either in the Premier League or in the Champions League. He has done so in numerous occasions during his ownership of the Blues. With the inevitable departure of Andre Villas Boas, Roberto Di Matteo was entrusted with the task of seeing the current Chelsea players through the season.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has advised his former employees Inter Milan against hiring sacked Chelsea coach Andre Villa-Boas. Mourinho who still maintains a strong relationship with Inter President Massimo Moratti is reported to have warned the Inter chief against signing his former assistant.

Fernando Torres has always been press worthy during his time at Chelsea. It's only that now the news seems to be largely flattering and the transfer rumors are actually including fees this rather than us paying another team to take the Spaniard off our hands.

The latest news to emerge regarding Nando comes via his agent, Antonio Sanz, who spoke with www.

It comes as no surprise that AVB is being linked with the Inter Milan post in the summer after Claudio Ranieri was sacked this week. In fact, AVB is the bookies favourite or should I say "was" until apparently Massimo Moratti spoke with Jose Mourinho for advice on AVB. It seems as though Jose has advised Moratti that he isn't the right man for Inter.

It comes as no surprise that AVB is being linked with the Inter Milan post in the summer after Claudio Ranieri was sacked this week. In fact, AVB is the bookies favourite or should I say "was" until apparently Massimo Moratti spoke with Jose Mourinho for advice on AVB. It seems as though Jose has advised Moratti that he isn't the right man for Inter.

szólj hozzá: Benfica 0:1 Chelsea HD

Salomon Kalou turns Fernando Torres's measured cross into goal in the 75th minute. David Luiz did not go nuts in front of his former club. He actually did well.

Roberto De Matteo kept Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, and Michael Essien on the bench.

Morning all I'm back from Florida and first up for me after missing out on Napoli, Leicester and City is this lunchtimes mouthwatering game at the Bridge against Spurs and what a change in fortune for both sides coming into this one.
A couple of weeks ago Spurs were flying under Harry Redknapp, winning games and playing well then England happened and ever since his side have faltered in recent weeks.

I predict there will be plenty of changes with people coming back into the side for Wednesday night but I am just wondering who you think should start the game for Chelsea?

The likes of Lampard, Drogba, Luiz and Cole will all come back as no doubt RDM will pick what he now believes to be our strongest eleven.

Perhaps the hangover persists. If it does, good for you. But here's hoping the squad are sufficiently past the midweek celebrations and focused on the task at hand. We remain in the hunt for the FA Cup- even if it doesn't mean much to a number of us in the grand scheme of things. It is much more important to focus our efforts on the PL, but it sure as hell wouldn't hurt to win this trophy (especially with a draw as kind as this).

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard and defender David Luiz have both had their say to clarify the confusion surrounding one of the many incidents that led to the sacking of former manager Andre Villas-Boas last month.

In the days leading to AVB's axing, Luiz slammed certain media outlets for publishing false quotes that depicted the Brazilian publicly criticizing Lampard and the club's other senior players for their alleged refusal to co-operate with the young gaffer.

Isn't it ridiculous that a simple arm around the shoulder of these well paid (reported) ego's is all it took to get these people onside.

AVB never gave me the opinion he was of the same approach and was maybe the main reason he failed here.

RDM has taken over during a time of dressing room disruption and turmoil and to his credit has done things his way by starting with giving the players a voice, a cuddle and then motivation.

Simmering in the euphoria at the moment and what better time, to hit out, than now on the back of a such an awesome victory. (a l'AVB?) But before I do though Napoli such a good, good team. Huge respect for them. Had we lost, they would definitely have been my surrogate club in the CL!

Alright let's get some things of my chest:

• All this talk about old guard boi they stepped up!

By Alan Duffy

Chelsea, under the temporary stewardship of Roberto Di Matteo, looked to have a massive task ahead of them on Wednesday night, with visitors Napoli taking a 3-1 advantage to Stamford Bridge from the first leg of the last 16 Champions League tie.

The Didier Drogba Foundation held a charity ball at the Dorchester Hotel in London over the weekend, giving the Chelsea striker ample opportunity to dig out his most horrendous blue suit in the name of philanthropy.

The event — attended by Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, John Terry and several more of AVB's mortal enemies — managed to raise over $390,000 to build a clinic in the Ivory Coast's capital by auctioning off once-in-a-lifetime prizes, including a Hublot watch, a private Ibiza party with Calvin Harris and a gentle lovemaking session with Raul Meireles.

March brings with it not only the start of spring but also a change in management at Chelsea Football Club. It's almost become as regular as clockwork. After barely eight months in charge the man who was supposed to herald in a new era at Stamford Bridge, Andre Villas-Boas, has been shown the door after a poor run of results and having lost the dressing room.

"Who will be next in line?" is the question every Chelsea supporter will be asking after their club's Chairman and owner, Roman Abramovic, brought an end to the tenure of Andre Villas-Boas (AVB) as Chelsea manager.

The sacking hardly came as a surprise, AVB had been made a clear short priced favourite in the Premier League's Sack Race betting for some weeks and the continued wretched form of his team finally cost him his job, with the 1-0 defeat at the hands of West Brom seemingly the final straw.