Mourinho: I won't be sacked even if Chelsea finish in mid-table

Jose Mourinho is confident he will not be sacked as manager of Chelsea even if the champions finish the season in mid-table.

The Blues have made a poor start to the campaign, taking just eight points from their opening eight matches, and sit in 16th place in the Premier League standings.

Mourinho has come under pressure in recent weeks, with parallels drawn between the current situation and the 2006-07 campaign, when Mourinho was dismissed in September.

But the Portuguese believes that Roman Abramovich's attitude has changed since then and has faith that he will remain in charge even if Chelsea finish the season in mid-table.

"It’s different for many reasons. I don’t think it’s different just now, but since the moment I came back in 2013. When I had my first conversation with the owner and board in 2013.

“I met the owner before dinner so, when I left [after the Southampton defeat two weeks ago], I knew [there was no threat of the sack],” Mourinho said.

“But, even before that, I knew what brought me here. I know the conversation we had two years ago. I know what made me sign a new contract, and the reasons the owner and board decided to give me a new contract over the summer. They didn’t have to. I still had two years to run on the previous deal, so they didn’t have to give me a new contract. So what I know is what I know from them.

“Obviously, after a bad result – and that was not the first bad result of the season – I was far from happy. Far from it. But I never felt [concerned] about my future."

"For me the important thing is the owner and the board’s message to myself and, before the statement came out, I’d had the feedback from the owner and the board. So the statement [that Chelsea released in support of Mourinho] was not something new for me. That support I’d got before.

"Why did the statement come out? Maybe to stop the rumour that I could be on my way. The support to myself was not made by the statement, but by a normal conversation that we’ve had many times. This time it was to support and to make me completely aware of the club’s intentions.”

Chelsea face Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday looking to climb up the table against Tim Sherwood's strugglers.

Branislav Ivanovic is set to miss out for the Blues, but Diego Costa is available again after his three-game suspension.

Costa was left out of Spain's squad for their final two Euro 2016 qualifiers, and recently conceded that he had turned up to pre-season training "slightly overweight" at the start of the summer.

"He's an honest guy, and a guy that says that is not, for sure, the leader of any ‘mutiny’,” said Mourinho. “He’s the kind of guy who assumes his own responsibility.

“His weight was a consequence of a bad approach, but also of a difficult last third of the season: suspension; injury; re-injury; not playing; disappointment; not participating in the best period of the season, when you become champions; go on holiday; go to Brazil. The food is much better than here. For a Brazilian, the food in Brazil is divine.

"He stayed there at home and came back in bad condition. He could have used many excuses for our bad moment, but he chose himself and his condition as one of the factors. So respect.”

Chelsea appealed against the £50,000 fine and suspended one-match stadium ban that was handed to Mourinho by the Football Association following his post-match comments after the loss to Southampton.

Mourinho, who had suggested that referees were "afraid" to give decision in his side's favour, confirmed that it was his choice to contest the charge.

"I want to appeal because I disagree totally, and not just partially, but totally with the decision,” he said. “It’s obviously my decision, but I don’t want to say anything else. Other than I disagree totally.”