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It's been more than two weeks since Chelsea sacked Andre Villas-Boas, and since then the club's been on something of a roll. Birmingham were dispatched to reach the FA Cup quarterfinals, and Leicester proved no more of an obstacle as the Blues moved onto the semis. Stoke City were beaten in the league, and a 3-1 deficit against Napoli was overturned at home to secure passage to the Champions League quarterfinals, a truly remarkable result.
The man at the helm for this recovery is Villas-Boas' old assistant Roberto di Matteo. I wrote about my initial impressions of the manager following the home win against Stoke, and the response seemed to be 'let's wait and see what happens after Napoli'. Well, di Matteo has passed that particular test with flying colours, and although he's got another difficult match coming up this week - Manchester City away is nobody's idea of a walk in the park - he's probably had enough time for us to get a handle on his time with the club so far.
It's early days yet, and there's no guarantee that the good times will last. It's still completely unclear whether or not Chelsea can finish in the top four, which, barring the unlikely scenario of the club winning the Champions League, is essentially a requirement. Do you think di Matteo can do it? Poll time!