Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas feels Chelsea's controversial clash with QPR last season cost him his job.

Victory would have seen AVB's team leapfrog Manchester United to go second, just three points behind leaders Manchester City - who had won 6-1 at Old Trafford earlier that day.

Instead they lost 1-0 and had two players sent off in a stormy clash that will always be remembered for igniting the race row between John Terry and Anton Ferdinand.

The repercussions of that saga are still being felt today as Terry misses the clash with Spurs through his four-game FA ban for using racist language.

AVB said: "After the QPR game we had a consecutive run of bad results.

"In the end football results is about stability and jumping from adversity.

"At my time at Chelsea we never got that stability. We were always up and down.

"We went to Everton away in the League Cup and won and it was a massive win.

"But then we dropped points against Arsenal and Liverpool.

"It was those two Premier League fixtures that took the belief from us being champions."