Chelsea will continue to back manager Andre Villas-Boas, despite the creeping doubts inside the locker room.

The London Evening Standard says Villas-Boas would like to be judged more on results when the team are his own. In the summer he was only able to bring in Juan Mata, Raul Meireles, Oriol Romeu and Romelu Lukaku.

There are also worries that Villas-Boas's lack of a professional playing career is becoming an issue with some of the senior contingent now that results are going awry.

And it is believed that the manager doesn't have as close a bond with the players as former boss Carlo Ancelotti as he prefers to keep his distance.

Chelsea paid Porto, where he won four trophies in his only season in charge, £13.3million in compensation in the summer. Despite his success in Portugal, the club were aware his lack of experience could see him make errors.

His focus has been on rotating the squad and playing a high defensive line but there is a feeling among some senior players that there has been too much change and he needs to pick the same team for a few games in a row.