Guus Hiddink's Fight Against the Clock at Chelsea

Didier Drogba and Juliano Belletti have both taken swipes at Luiz Felipe Scolari in the past 24 hours.

Drogba has pointed out that it was wrong of the Brazilian to single out individual players for criticism in the wake of defeat, whilst Belletti has spoken of the cast improvement in training since Guus Hiddink became the latest man to sip from the poison chalice that is the Chelsea job.

Whilst it’s good to hear positive noises about a new coach, Drogba was keen to stress he believes the Blues can still win something this season, but the focus should be on the imposing task of Aston Villa this weekend.

There are rumours that both James Milner and Emile Heskey face late fitness tests ahead of the game. Now this might be wishful thinking, but it would be a huge boost for Chelsea if neither were to play.

As a friend of mine pointed out to me, it really speaks volumes of where Chelsea is at right now that we’re sweating over whether or not Heskey will appear. No disrespect to the England international; he’s having a fantastic season, but no one saw it coming.

The big task now facing Hiddink is that he arguably has just three games to save Chelsea’s season.

Failure to beat Aston Villa this weekend is not an option if the Londoners are to stay in the title race, and a Champions League tie with Juventus that must be negotiated.

Defeat in both and the Dutchman would just be a caretaker for the rest of the season as the squad play out their remaining games, Hiddink ensuring all the necessary preparations are made for next season, whoever is in charge.

You’ll notice I’ve left the FA Cup out of this equation, and there is reason behind this. As glamorous as the competition is, it doesn’t hold the "wow factor" it used to.

FA Cup final day in this country used to be like the Super Bowl. Everyone watched the game, and worked their weekends around it.

Now, it’s not even the curtain closer on the season, that honour going to the Champions League Final and then a final England International.

Hiddink sat in the stands at Vicarage Road last weekend and you could tell he knew it would take something special to see Chelsea make it to Rome, and the aforementioned curtain closer for a second season running.

So Hiddink is in a battle against time to rebuild Chelsea, and the ticking hands of Abramovich’s Rolex can be very unforgiving.

But perhaps Chelsea could do it. Maybe our inspiration should be the Liverpool side of 2005? Forget the league, go for broke in Europe, then just shut your eyes and hope...