EXTRA: Chelsea sparkar Villas-Boas

The board would like to record our gratitude for his work and express our disappointmentthat the relationship has ended so early.

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.

With immediate effect Roberto di Matteo has been appointed first team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season"

Beskedet, som inte lär överraska många, kommer efter en rad svaga insatser och resultat under portugisens ledning.