PREMIER LEAGUE:AVRAM GRANT insists he and Roman Abramovich "share the same vision" for Chelsea. The Israeli's belief in his ability to lead the club into an era as glittering as that enjoyed by his predecessor, Jose Mourinho, is unshaken by the weekend's FA Cup humiliation at Barnsley.
Chelsea welcome the Premier League's bottom club, Derby County, to Stamford Bridge this evening aware that victory will lift them to within five points of Arsenal at the top with a game in hand.
Grant has been forced to endure the fallout from Saturday's shock 1-0 defeat at Oakwell, coming so soon after the English League Cup final loss to Tottenham, and has spoken at length with his players and Abramovich. While he admits the reverse was "embarrassing", he remains convinced he is the right man for the job.
"If I feel I'm not doing my job to take Chelsea forward or if someone tells me I'm not doing my job, I would not be here," said the manager. "The minute I believe I can't take the team forward or someone else tells me that, I'll accept it. But over the last six months we've been improving. I'm sure we're moving in the right direction. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't be here.
"Roman was disappointed with the game on Saturday, like all of us, but a big club doesn't change targets because of one lost match or even nine wins in a row. We share the same vision. I came here to take this team forward and that's what I'm going to do.
"Stability is very important, especially when the club have a vision. It's easier to realise that with stability, not just the manager but with the right staff to go with them for a long time.
"Roman is still my friend but now he's also my boss. We know not to put friendship in that (professional) relationship.
"But people judge Chelsea differently to other big clubs. We've done a great job in the league and, if we win our games in hand, we'll be close to Manchester United and Arsenal. We're disappointed with what happened on Saturday but that didn't change the vision of the club. We're very proud of what we've achieved so far."
The hosts will be without Petr Cech but Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba are due to return.
Martin O'Neill has admitted Aston Villa have reached "crunch time" and can afford few slip-ups in the final 10 games of the season if they are to keep alive their hopes of securing a European spot as they take on Middlesbrough.
"Because of the FA Cup shocks there is only one Uefa Cup place available via the league. But those are the rules and I think you know them before you set out. I have no complaints about them.
"We are not out of the race. The first thing is we have to try and win tomorrow night. It is the game in hand. We have not got to try and win it, we have got to win it, simple as that."
Central defender Zat Knight will return in place of Curtis Davies, whose ruptured Achilles will rule him out until October.
Birmingham, who are unbeaten in four games, visit FA Cup semi-finalists Portsmouth. Central defender Martin Taylor is still banned for his sending-off against Arsenal, while midfielder Olivier Kapo has a hamstring injury.
