Villas-Boas: My future not in question

The London club face a series of tough fixtures in December including Saturday's Premier League visit to high-flying Newcastle United.

Chelsea also entertain Valencia in a make-or-break Champions League game on Tuesday before hosting Premier League leaders Manchester City on December 12 and travelling to title-chasing Tottenham Hotspur three days before Christmas.

Asked by reporters on Thursday if he felt December would be a defining month for him, manager Villas-Boas replied: "No, for sure not, because my future is not in question.

"I was brought in for a three-year project and we believe in it."

Chelsea started the season well but have slipped to fifth, having lost four Premier League games. They have also been knocked out of the League Cup by Liverpool and been beaten at Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

Villas-Boas denied he and his players were in the middle of a crisis, having lost four of their last seven matches in all competitions.

"It is not at crisis point," said the 34-year-old Portuguese. "We just have to pull ourselves together and can only continue with our hard work and believe we are going to reverse the situation."

Villas-Boas again pledged to continue his 'go for goals' attacking policy.

"The philosophy is not a cancer, we are not speaking about something that is wrong," he said.

"We are speaking about something that we like to do and we do it with pride, which is just good football."