André Villas-Boas has publicly expressed fears for the first time that he could endure the same fate as his predecessors and be dismissed by the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, before he is given the chance to implement his long-term plans.

Villas-Boas was prised from Porto last summer, at a cost of £13.5m in compensation, and charged with initiating a radical overhaul of an ageing squad which had been overseen by four permanent managers in as many years. That process appeared to require time with Villas-Boas confident, until recently, that the club's hierarchy appreciated the scale of the task in hand, only for a slump that saw four wins in 14 matches prior to Saturday's victory over Bolton Wanderers eroding the owner's faith.

The 34-year-old has previously stressed a belief that he would be granted the time – denied the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose tenures were ruthlessly cut short by Abramovich – to implement his three-year "project". Yet, in an interview conducted by the Lisbon-based radio station TSF last Thursday but broadcast on Monday night, that stance appeared to shift. "We are now in the exact same moment as last year," said Villas-Boas, referring back to the last few months of Ancelotti's spell which were played out with the manager effectively reduced to the role of dead man walking. "It is an exact copy but with a less experienced coach [in charge].

"I know that, in the Abramovich era, we have the worst results but I think I have felt the confidence from the owner. Let's see if he wants a change in the club or not. The pattern of behaviour of the owner has led to a downfall [of managers] in similar situations, or even 'better' situations. What will be his reaction? It will be one of two: either a continuation of the project and full support from above; or a continuation of the cultural pattern that has happened before. We don't know. We don't know if it'll be tomorrow or in two years from now. It'll depend on what is the understanding of what is happening at the moment."

There has been interest on some level in the short-term appointment of either Rafael Benítez or Fabio Capello, experienced managers who are readily available, as a replacement for Villas-Boas should he be sacked with Chelsea's season threatening to unravel. The club are out of the Premier League's top four on goals scored and the threat of failing to make the Champions League for the first time in the Abramovich era is very real – they are 3-1 down from the first leg against Napoli.

There has been grumbling discontent, too, among senior members who have spent time out of the team amid fears they are being steadily phased out of the club. Frank Lampard admitted at the weekend that his own relationship with Villas-Boas had "not been ideal" and the England midfielder joined Michael Essien and Ashley Cole in being omitted from the starting lineup for the Champions League defeat in Naples last week.

Villas-Boas, who praised the achievements of Abramovich's ownership as "unbelievable" and suggested there is an interest in Porto's Brazil forward Hulk as he considered the team's further development, has conceded his approach has not gained universal approval within the dressing room, but claimed in the interview that "there is no lack of support from the players here".

Villas-Boas, who stressed he remained committed to Chelsea and would not be seeking a summer return to Porto, pointed to his plans to reshape his squad by hinting at summer departures for Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou, who have been fringe players this term, and admitted he had failed in his attempts to revive Fernando Torres' career. The £50m striker has not scored in the Premier League since the visit of Swansea in September and the manager concedes he had been "lost" in the months since.

"We have been through the Torres situation before with [Andriy] Shevchenko and [Mateja] Kezman," he said, referring to other expensive forwards who have failed to flourish at Stamford Bridge. "But Torres's problems may have also come from a change of philosophy at the club."