Villas-Boas takes his side to Blackburn to pit his wits against a manager who has faced a succession of fan protests aimed at getting him the sack. The kind of abuse Steve Kean has endured has been alien to Villas-Boas so far in his prodigious two-year career.
But as he approaches the end of a fortnight that has yielded back-to-back Barclays Premier League defeats, the John Terry racism inquiry and more than one Football Association fine, the Portuguese is all too aware that he too will face the wrath of supporters at some point. He said: "It's inevitable."
He added: "(Arsene) Wenger went through it. Sir Alex (Ferguson), for sure, went through it.
"In the Latin countries, you see these kind of expressions all the time from one negative result. I've never had it because I've only had a two-year career, but one day it will come."
It may come sooner than Villas-Boas thinks if Chelsea's recent poor run of results continues much longer - although managers do tend to find themselves out of a job at Stamford Bridge before supporters even have the chance to turn on them.
Such pressure from inside and out is one reason why 34-year-old Villas-Boas does not see himself continuing in management into his 50s.
"It's a stressful job, which is why I don't want to be doing it for a long time," said Villas-Boas, who admitted taking out bad results on those closest to him.
"It affects your personal life, that's part of the job. Any negative result gets you down."
Source: PA
Source: PA