Chelsea 2 West Bromwich Albion 1: Villas-Boas urges Blues fans to get behind their pursuit of league title

Some supporters jeered the Blues from the field at half-time of Saturday’s victory over West Brom, following a dismal opening 45 minutes in Villas-Boas’s first home game in charge.

While the new Chelsea manager could understand fan frustration, he urged them to show more patience for the remaining 18 league matches at Stamford Bridge.

“To go past a season in the Premier League, where you have to win it back, you need the full support of everybody,” Villas-Boas said. “Everybody must get involved. You must feel the presence of the public in a supporting way.” He added: “This team wants to be champions again. The public wants to be champions and demands it.

“We are listening to their demands and we want to perform but we need their full support all the time.”

Villas-Boas felt the “anxiety” of supporters – sparked by Shane Long’s fourth-minute opener for West Brom – translated to his players, who failed to perform until a half-time pep talk.

The Portuguese insisted he had not felt the heat himself, despite staring his first league defeat for 16 months in the face at half-time.

Villas-Boas’s Porto won the Portuguese title without losing a game last season and also claimed the Europa League but the 33-year-old revealed there were scares along the way.

“I think I suffered a couple,” he said. “It just happens. It’s a game.”

West Brom completely nullified Chelsea in the first half and manager Roy Hodgson said: “The shape of our team enabled us to win the ball back.

“Because Chelsea are a team that push forward, we had the opportunities on the counter-attack to cause them problems, which we did.

“In the second half, I don’t think we looked after the ball as well as we’d done in the first half.”

Left-back Nicky Shorey made errors that led to both goals but Hodgson said: “To be fair, Nicky Shorey is a very, very confident player on the ball and very, very rarely gets caught in possession.”

Valencia last night announced they had reached “an agreement in principle” with Chelsea for the sale of Juan Mata.

The Spanish club did not disclose the fee for the 23-year-old and also added the transfer was subject to the player passing the relevant medical tests.