By PAUL JIGGINS
ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS is sure last season’s infamous events at QPR cost Chelsea the title.
Tottenham boss AVB takes on his old club today for the first time since they sacked him in March.
But a year ago this weekend he was in charge of Chelsea for a London derby that is still making headlines now.
They went to Loftus Road third in the table having lost just one of their first eight Premier League games.
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.
But AVB believes the match at Loftus Road had a much more immediate impact on Chelsea’s title hopes.
He 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.”
Chelsea’s defeat at QPR started a run of three league defeats in four games and began their slide out of the top four.
Villas-Boas was eventually axed in March after just 256 days in charge.
His assistant Roberto Di Matteo took control of team affairs and guided the West Londoners to an FA Cup and Champions League double.
Villas-Boas succeeded Harry Redknapp as Spurs boss in the summer and is unbeaten in nine games in all competitions since his team’s 2-1 defeat at Newcastle on the opening day of the season.
And the Portuguese coach certainly appears to be enjoying life under White Hart Lane chairman Daniel Levy better than he did with Roman Abramovich in charge at Stamford Bridge.
AVB said: “It’s different types of ownership and characteristics and personalities, for sure. There is no difficulty in the situations.
“Both have explained to me what they expect. I have certainly tried to apply that in both clubs, the way that we set out in the beginning.
“In the end, they have to decide on what is success and what isn’t.”
AVB, 35, insists he had no problem with Red Rom turning up unannounced at Chelsea’s Cobham HQ to monitor his training sessions.
He said: “No, that’s something that is perfectly normal in Europe. I had no problem with that whatsoever.”
Villas-Boas also denies it was player power that got him the boot at Chelsea. It was reported Red Rom fired AVB after several senior stars complained about the new manager’s methods.
But AVB does not believe that was the case and insists he holds no grudges towards his former players.
He said: “No, I’ve seen a couple of them — most of them are my friends and I have a good relationship with them.
“My feelings towards them are completely normal. They are people I recognise, I shake hands and we have a chat.
“I mean, we are not there to have a chat. We are there to compete but certainly there are people that I have personal relationships with, most of whom I have seen.
“I don’t feel animosity towards them. Not at all.
“And I don’t think it has any kind of influence on the running of the game.
“I am worried much more about the running of the game, rather than whatever happened in the past.”
