Andre Villas-Boas on borrowed time at Chelsea as Guus Hiddink looms on horizon Up until the end of last week it appeared that Abramovich's backing for Villas-Boas remained rock-solid despite a difficult campaign in which the Portuguese has, at times, struggled to get his ideas across. Abramovich has previously told Villas-Boas that he has full faith in him and that the club was embarking on a three-year plan - the length of the manager's contract - to create a "new Chelsea," overhaul the squad and adopt a more attacking style of play. Abramovich would stomach not winning the Premier League title this season as long as he sees signs of progression. However Chelsea cannot finish outside of the top four and fail to qualify for the Champions League and there is now fear that the team is on a downward trend that Villas-Boas may be unable to arrest. As things stand, according to sources, he is likely to remain in charge of Saturday's fifth-round FA Cup tie at home to Birmingham City with next Tuesday's Champions League tie away to Napoli also looming. If he fails to negotiate those matches successfully then it would pile the pressure on him as they represent Chelsea's last chances of winning trophies. If Villas-Boas is replaced it would be an incredibly harsh decision, despite the run of form and the under-performance of the squad, with Chelsea leaving themselves once again open to accusations of being guilty of a knee-jerk response. Abramovich, however, is the club's owner and has the final say on all major decisions. His presence at the training ground last week was due to him having free time in his schedule - his High Court case with Boris Berezovsky has finally finished - but unfortunately for Villas-Boas it has coincided with the poor run of form with the crushing disappointment of throwing away a 3-0 lead against Manchester Unitedfollowed by the Everton defeat which the manager said was the worst performance of the season. Abramovich is not an infrequent visitor to the training ground and, indeed, held a similar clear-the-air meeting to the one he called on Sunday during Ancelotti's first season following the Champions League exit to Inter Milan. Chelsea went on to win the league and FA Cup double but, at the same time, damage was done to Ancelotti's authority and he went at the end of the following season. If Abramovich decides to make a change it may well be that he turns to Hiddink again to perform a similar, interim role to the one he executed so successfully after Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked in February 2009. Hiddink is currently assessing his options after leaving Turkey following the failure to qualify for Euro 2012 and has been strongly linked to take over at the wealthy Russian club Anzhi. He continues to enjoy a strong friendship with Abramovich and is unlikely to turn down any offer made to him by the Russian billionaire. Capello's availability is even more intriguing, if less likely, given that he only quit as England manager last week. He has suggested that his next job will not be in Italy and there have been offers for him to work in the Middle East while he, too, has been linked with Anzhi. It's understood that Abramovich has been reluctant to replace Villas-Boas and has had faith in the manager's ability to turn things round. Although he spoke his mind at Sunday's meeting it was made clear that Abramovich did believe in Villas-Boas's ability. But he will not let Chelsea slip out of contention and results have put the manager in a vulnerable position. Abramovich does not have the full faith in him he had.