Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas admitted that as his side prepares to kick-off at Goodison Park this afternoon, damage control is the only ambition for the Blues in a Premier League campaign where they have not been 'very honorable'.

With Tottenham seven points ahead in third and Newcastle, Arsenal, and Liverpool all within striking distance of Chelsea's current fourth position in the table, Villas-Boas acknowledges that it has been a shaky ride for a side that was assembled to chase glory.

According to media outlet talkSPORT, cash-rich French giants Paris St. Germain are on the verge of a sensational swoop for Chelsea star Frank Lampard.

The midfielder has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge in recent weeks, with Premiership Talk last week reporting of a possible move to Major League Soccer side Los Angeles Galaxy.

We excavate this snippet and republish this from our Friday piece as today's action is about to get underway.

The saga continues...

• Chelski vs. Europa's Elite: Man City

Man City now have a but the Premiership trophy to focus on as they, too, departed the Champion's League brackets this week and headed to Europa's minor leagues.

Chelsea's rogue owner, Roman Abramovich, has historically shown no mercy to his managers when results don't meet his satisfaction. Names like Avram Grant, Luis Felipe Scolari and even the self... Read more »

Chelsea's rogue owner, Roman Abramovich, has historically shown no mercy to his managers when results don't meet his satisfaction. Names like Avram Grant, Luis Felipe Scolari and even the self proclaimed special one, Jose Mourinho have all fell prey to the wrath of the ambitious owner. With hard losses to Arsenal, Liverpool, and Bayern Leverkusen, [.

Andre Villas-Boas to axe Chelsea old boys: What the back pages say

Chelsea will listen to offers for six senior players in January as owner Roman Abramovich backs Andre Villas-Boas to rebuild the club.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-05 08:03:37 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

A frustrated Chelsea fan has demanded that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich sack coach Andre Villas-Boas with immediate effect in a belated YouTube video. The Blues crashed to a 2-1 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night and with their qualification into the last 16 yet to be confirmed, Andre Villas-Boas' men face a nervous qualification [.

French news outlet L'Equipe is reporting that the Philadelphia Union are among a group of teams that is competing to sign current Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka to a contract in the January international transfer window.

Philadelphia Daily news, and Philly.com, Union beat reporter Kerith Gabriel stated over Twitter that a team source confirmed that the Union had interest in Anelka, but that the striker's other offers on the table would be tough to match.

Kenny Dalglish has leapt to the defence of beleaguered Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas after Liverpool inflicted a third defeat in 4 games on his team.
After the game, Villas-Boas vehemently denied that he was under pressure from Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, and Dalglish was keen to stress that there was 'huge respect' for AVB within the game:
"I think the only ones who'll be questioning him will be yourselves [The Press]; it won't be anyone in the football profession questioning him.

Chelsea defeat by Liverpool piles pressure on André Villas-Boas

• Manager insists he has Roman Abramovich's backing • 'We have set out to build something new at this club' André Villas-Boas has claimed he retains the support of the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, after a third defeat in four Premier League matches cast his side further adrift in the title race.

Chelsea defeat to Liverpool piles pressure on André Villas-Boas

• Manager insists he has Roman Abramovich's backing • 'We have set out to build something new at this club' André Villas-Boas has claimed he retains the support of the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, after a third defeat in four Premier League matches cast his side further adrift in the title race.

Glen Johnson scored a sensational late winner to earn Liverpool three vital Barclays Premier League points at his old club Chelsea.
Former Blues full-back Johnson netted a brilliant solo effort to inflict his old club's third defeat in four league matches and leave both teams 12 points behind Manchester City.

André Villas-Boas warns Chelsea that Liverpool are a title threat

• Chelsea and Liverpool can make up ground, says manager • Fernando Torres set to return for visitors at Stamford Bridge The Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas has refused to rule Liverpool out of the Premier League title race, despite Sunday's visitors to Stamford Bridge having slipped 12 points behind the leaders Manchester City.

By CALEB SONNELAND

Former Arsenal captain and long-time fan favorite Cesc Fabregas issued a statement of caution to current captain Robin van Persie.

Van Persie, now 28, has 18 months left on his current contract with the London club, but hasn't seemed to be in a rush to put pen to paper.

Playing the long game: Andre Villas Boas and Chelsea is a post from: Just Football

by Andreas Vou

Manchester United are the benchmark to every football club aiming for long term success. The Red Devils stuck with Sir Alex Ferguson despite winning nothing in his first four years in charge and have fully reaped the rewards, having overtaken Liverpool's record 18 domestic league titles last year and winning two Champions League titles in the Scot's ongoing 25 year reign.

As Chelsea prepare to host Fulham in a mouth-watering Carling Cup clash between the two West London clubs at Stamford Bridge, manager Andre Villas-Boas has revealed that his focus on using younger players both tonight and beyond is fully supported by Blues owner Roman Abramovich.

In the past, Chelsea have rarely hesitated in using their entire starting XI for major League Cup fixtures such as tonight's derby match but Villas-Boas believes change was inevitable the moment he was hired to take the reins.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has confessed that everyone at the club is desperate for the UEFA Champions League crown after seeing Europe's ultimate prize evade the Blues throughout their history.

Lampard scored the equalizer to make it 1-1 before Chelsea's penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester United in the 2008 Champions League final played in Moscow before witnessing his side knocked out of the competition by the Red Devils once again last season.

Liverpool fans are the most accepting of the Barclays Premier League's massive wage and transfer bills, according to statistics gathered by GiveMeFootball.com.
Around three in every four football supporters believe that the amount of money being dealt at the top flight is stifling the English game.

The season hath arrived. Well, not for another 24 hours and change, but whatever.

As we prepare ourselves for such a grandiose occasion, we must first transform a Maybach into some twisted machine out of Mad Max. Sophisticated ignorance.

Now, with that out of the way, we can look forward to the immediate future of Chelsea Football Club.

ESPN Soccernet is reporting that Turkish National team manager and former Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink has told Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich what everyone else has been saying all along: Stability is the key to winning. Abramovich, who has hired...
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When UEFA announced its Financial Fair Play regulations last summer, several names immediately sprang to mind as clubs that would likely have to change many of their habits from recent years if they were to be allowed to continue to compete in European competitions under the new rules. As such, last season could perhaps be regarded as one of stasis for the club after their double-winning season, and this summer seems unlikely to see vast amounts of money being spent in the pursuit of the Champions League trophy which has become characterised in some quarters as the primary obsession of the club's owner, Roman Abramovich.

With acclaimed Portuguese coach Andres Villas-Boas taking over the Chelsea hotseat, Blues skipper John Terry is fully aware of the task at hand.

Owner Roman Abramovich has, as always, has identified Champions League glory as the top priority and reports emerging from the club's training camp suggest that Chelsea players have a lot of pressure to cope with.

New Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas will know the Champions League is of prime importance to the Blues next season as he looks to bring trophies to Stamford Bridge.
The Portuguese boss was brought in to replace Carlo Ancelotti after the Italian was axed following a trophy-less season in 2010/11, even though he won the double at Chelsea 12 months earlier.

After Chelsea sacked manager Carlo Ancelotti for failing to bring the Champions League back to London, new gaffer Andre Villas-Boas has a huge task on his hands before he even starts his new job.

He needs to find a successful approach in Europe in order to satisfy Blues owner Roman Abramovich, who craves European domination.

Andre Villas-Boas gave his first public interview as Chelsea manager as he spelled out his hopes, aims and visions whilst at the helm.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Amongst many other things, the new Blues boss reiterated that new signings are firmly on the agenda once things have settled down at the club, and also insisted that midfielder Michael Essien will be staying put.

European coaching's Next Big Thing could be on his way back to Stamford Bridge.

Andre Villas-Boas, who coached Porto to an undefeated league season and capped the campaign with Portuguese Cup and UEFA Europa League titles, has resigned as manager of the Portuguese champions.

Chelsea have joined the race for Hamburg winger Eljero Elia, according to reports.
The long-term Liverpool target is reportedly unsettled at Hamburg, and is again being linked with the Imtech Arena exit door after a turbulent second season with the Bundesliga outfit.
Former Reds boss Roy Hodgson was first linked with a move for the player in the summer of 2010, with his form for the Dutch national side in the World Cup alerting a number of sides throughout Europe.

FC Porto have denied that current boss Andre Villas-Boas is set to join Chelsea amidst mounting speculation that the highly-rated coach is to be unveiled as the new Blues boss.

According to reports, Chelsea are set to move for the current FC Porto boss with The Times in particular reporting that Jose Mourinho's former assistant is ready to leave the Portuguese champions and follow in the ‘Special One's' footsteps and sign for Chelsea.

Amazing story coming out of Moncao yesterday if it's true Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich actually officiated Didier Drogba's wedding. The Russian billionaire married Drogba and his long time partner Lalla Diakite while Sol Kalou and Florent Malouda served as ... Continue reading →

You thought we forgot a few earlier in the week and the truth is we did. Consider this post a 'make good' from us to you!

Alena Seredova made an honest man out of Gianluigi Buffon yesterday in the bride's hometown of Prague. The couple of six years had their bubbas Louis and David in attendance wearing wee adorable suits.

What can Javier Pastore bring to Chelsea? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

One of the Premier League's usual big spenders, Chelsea will be eager to redeem themselves having failed to claim a trophy in 2010/11. The pressure on the new manager will be immense, especially as owner Roman Abramovich appears willing to pay over £40m for Argentinean attacking midfielder, Javier Pastore.

Staying? Going?As I am sure you've heard, Harry Redknapp has emerged as the shock favourite to fill the position left vacant by Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea.
Redknapp's odds to replace the former AC Milan manager have been slashed as owner Roman Abramovich goes in search of the man who he believes can bring him success in the Champions League.

As Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich propels his side back to the forefront of the managerial merry-go-round with the latest in an increasing line of nonsensical manager sackings, football has left me with a bad taste in my mouth once again [...]

Chelsea's season has ended without a trophy, and whilst Ancelotti believed he may find out "this week" about his fate, owner Roman Abramovich had other ideas and wielded his axe not even twenty four hours after the final day defeat to Everton.

Ancelotti's departure is a shame on two fronts.

LONDON, England Chelsea have announced that Carlo Ancelotti has left the club after a trophyless season at Stamford Bridge. It has long been expected that the Italian would leave the London club, despite winning the Double in his debut campaign in England in 2009/10. And Chelsea confirmed the inevitable decision to part company with [.

Sir Alex Ferguson is never content to rest on his laurels, no matter how much success comes the way of the Scot and the players under his control at Old Trafford. So, it won't come as too much of a surprise to fans of the club that the wily United manager is planning on bringing a few fresh faces in over the summer as the Red Devils seek to guard against the predicted rise of the blue side of Manchester.

This summer, for the first time in a long time, Chelsea's high earning footballers will take a break from the almost frequent and gruelling summer international tournaments. One question will be stuck firmly rooted in their mind during the summer:

Where did we go wrong?

The simple truth of the matter is this that too many players didn't perform consistently and collectively.

Anderlecht has reportedly opened negotiations over a summer deal that will see 17-year-old strike sensation Romelu Lukaku join Chelsea according to the Metro.
The heavily coveted Belgian star has been linked with a number of Barclays Premier League clubs, with Chelsea likely to face competition for his signature from Liverpool.

Could Gianfranco Zola be making his way back to Stamford Bridge as Carlo Ancelotti's new number two in the summer?. According to TuttoMercatoWeb, they believe that if Carlo Ancelotti stays at the club and move into his third season at the club, he will ask for Zola to come back as his assistant.

The thing about Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is that very few people have heard him speak. Fewer still have heard him speak in a language they understand. And when Abramovich does speak, it's never in public or to the media. As for the people he employs to actually run Chelsea -- primarily club Chairman Bruce Buck and Chief Executive Ron Gourlay -- they talk very little and say even less.