Pressure Piling on Villas-Boas at Chelsea

By claiming he is safe from the sack despite Chelsea's worst start to a Premier League season under Roman Abramovich, Andre Villas-Boas is playing a dangerous game considering the notorious impatience of the London club's billionaire owner.

Murmurings of discontent at Stamford Bridge grew Sunday following Chelsea's 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, which left the team 12 points behind Premier League leader Manchester City.

Villas-Boas was hired by Abramovich this summer and claims he still has the backing of the Russian oligarch, saying "the owner didn't pay 15 million euros to get me out of Porto to pay another fortune to get me out."

Abramovich has shown, however, he isn't afraid of making ruthless calls if managers can't meet his high expectations.