Chelsea manager Villas-Boas sacked

Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked by Chelsea after less than a year in charge at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea's decision comes on the back of Saturday's 1-0 defeat by West Bromwich Albion and a run of just three Premier League wins in their last 12 games. The 34-year-old Portuguese only took over as manager in June 2011. Former Chelsea midfielder Roberto di Matteo has been put in charge as first-team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season. A statement on the club's website read: “Unfortunately the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season. “The club is still competing in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, as well as challenging for a top-four spot in the Premier League, and we aim to remain as competitive as possible on all fronts. “With that in mind, we felt our only option was to make a change at this time.” Chelsea are facing two tough games in the FA Cup and Champions League over the next 10 days. They visit Championship side Birmingham for an FA Cup fifth-round replay on Tuesday and the following week they must overturn a 3-1 deficit against Italian side Napoli at Stamford Bridge to avoid exiting the Champions League at the last 16 stage. Villas-Boas won the Portuguese League and Cup double plus the Europa League whilst in charge at Porto but appeared to have a difficult working relationship with senior players at Chelsea. Nicolas Anelka and Alex left the club early in his reign and after Frank Lampard was left out of the team he said playing under Villas-Boas had “not been ideal.” Villas-Boas admitted in December that the Blues could no longer win the Premier League after they were left 11 points adrift of the leaders following a 1-1 draw with Fulham on Boxing Day. ]]>