Roman Abramovich has told his directors at Chelsea that he maintains faith in manager Carlo Ancelotti. The Telegraph says Abramovich has broken off from preparing for a lavish New Year's Eve party in the Caribbean to reiterate to the Chelsea board that he intends to stick with Ancelotti as the club's manager.
There is a growing determination, in contrast to their past behaviour, that Ancelotti needs further support and remains the right man for the job at Chelsea.
The board held a discussion in the wake of Monday's crushing 3-1 defeat away to Arsenal to canvass opinion on the state of the team and Ancelotti's own performance but there was no discussion over the manager's future.
Those talks continued on Tuesday and messages have been relayed to Ancelotti that Abramovich has not changed from the position he laid out to the Italian when the pair met for two hours in London in the wake of the Champions League defeat to Marseille this month.