Isolated Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benítez in training ground row with Chelsea players Monday's debate comes with Benítez increasingly resigned to his Chelsea tenure finishing at the end of the season. With the club's supporters relentlessly negative results patchy the Spaniard knows his prospects of a long-term contract are remote. Benítez takes his team to Middlesbrough for an awkward FA Cup fifth-round tie on Wednesday hoping to restore confidence, but it is league form that will determine Chelsea's season and his immediate future. It might seem reckless to replace an interim manager with just 11 games remaining but Roman Abramovich has form for acting this late in the season. Andre Villas-Boas was fired on March 4 last year, the day after Chelsea lost at West Bromwich Albion. Ominously Steve Clarke's side are Chelsea's next opponents, their visit to Stamford Bridge coming precisely 364 days after the game that did for Villas-Boas. The Baggies have proved lethal for Chelsea managers in the last year. Villas-Boas's successor, Roberto Di Matteo, lost his job after another defeat at the Hawthorns in November was followed by the calamitous reverse at Juventus that effectively knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League. After taking just three league points in February, on paper at least March offers Chelsea the chance to build form. West Ham also visit Stamford Bridge and there are away games at Fulham and Southampton before games against Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United that will decide Chelsea's fate. Terry insisted as recently as last weekend that there was no rift between him and the manager, comments which helped to shore up Benítez's position in the eyes of more moderate supporters. Chelsea have the second most potent attack in the league and only Manchester City are more parsimonious. But with supporters gratuitously abusing Benítez, Abramovich's faith in the manager he appointed despite the fans" opposition is being strained. Gary Cahill admitted Sunday's game was disappointing: "I had way too much [to do]. Normally at a big club, in a game you probably get asked to do three or four important things in a game. [Against City] we probably had 20 or 25. Unfortunately, if you keep getting asked the question, ultimately there's going to be a goal.