Hansen: Chelsea's Leaders Must Take Charge In AVB Controversy

Alan Hansen has called on Chelsea's players to come out fighting against Napoli this week, with Andre Villas-Boas under increasing pressure to deliver after his side faltered in both the FA Cup and the Premier League.

In their last four matches, the Blues have drawn twice and lost twice, including going from 3-0 up against Manchester United to finishing 3-3 with their former title rivals.

The side are now outside the top four, and after drawing 1-1 with Birmingham at the weekend, Chelsea's hopes of progressing through to the FA Cup quarter final are currently on hold.

Meanwhile, the side are preparing to take on Cinderella story Napoli in the Champions League this week. And with attacking force Edinson Cavani, Marek Hamsik and Ezequiel Lavezzi to face, the Blues will need to be at their best if they hope to progress to the quarter finals.

And BBC pundit Hansen believes that Chelsea can put their differences with Villas-Boas aside and deliver against their Italian counterparts.

"Despite their problems, Chelsea are not the worst team in the world and they still have some very good players," he wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.

"It is certainly not beyond them to prove people wrong by getting a result against Napoli.

"If those players begin to take on board what their manager is trying to do and produce results, would that not feel great, responding to the critics by showing the capabilities that the squad still have?

"Perhaps the senior figures within the Chelsea dressing-room should come together and take it upon themselves to ensure that everybody puts any grievances to one side to get the team winning again."

After Arsenal's thrashing at the hands of AC Milan during the week, Hansen argued that Chelsea will have no place to hide as they prepare to take on Napoli. But the former Liverpool man believes that the side can still show their competitive streak if they get their motivations right.

"At the moment, Chelsea are simply not a team you would back to succeed in the Champions League," he said. "But they are still capable of putting 11 players out on a pitch who are good enough to get a result against almost anybody.

"So the responsibility should now fall on their shoulders. If they do not want to do it for Villas-Boas, they should want to do it for Chelsea."

Much speculation has surrounded whether Andre Villas-Boas has the backing of the players in the dressing room, and though he shrugged off that there might be problems during the week, Hansen believes that it could be affecting the side's performances if there are indeed problems between players and manager.

He added: "Despite Villas-Boas claiming last week that the players 'don't have to back my project', for any manager to succeed, he simply must have the players with him. Once you lose the players, you have lost everything."

John Terry will be an instrumental part of Chelsea's squad for the all-important tie, with the skipper facing a race against time to be fit for the match.