English Premier League Poll: Steve Kean or Andre Villas-Boas, Who Is More Safe?

Saturday, December 31st, 2011 brought some interesting results on the last day of the year.Manchester Unitedhad been cruising their way back to the top of the table and were set for what should have been the example of the homecoming game in American football when you play against a team you are pretty much guaranteed to beat. However, this is the English Premier League we are talking about. As a fellow Bleacher Report featured columnist,Peter Webster, wrote a few days ago in his article, Premier League vs. La Liga: Why the EPL Wins Every Time but I Can't Prove It; "...the Premier League offers so much more competitiveness that there is rarely a televised game that I wouldn't watch," and that is exactly what the neutral viewers got. Sir Alex Ferguson was to celebrate his 70th birthday at the helm of Manchester United and with bottom- of-the-tableBlackburn Rovers coming to Old Trafford, it looked like the Red Devils were sure to go top of the EPL for at least the first half of the weekend. But, Steve Kean pulled a rabbit out of his hat and managed to upset one of the best teams in England 2-3 away from home. The Rovers boss has been on the hot seat pretty much all season, but has managed to drawLiverpool and beat Manchester United on their home grounds in the last two matches of the season. This result compounded the fact that United failed to catch a UEFA Champions Leaguelifelineyesterday after FC Baselwere not docked a point. The Red Devils truly are weak due to so many injuries in their squad and especially their back line, but that does little to soften the blow of their loss or dampen the importance of the win for Blackburn and their Boss. The irony is that once again just as all those fans and critics that were calling for his head thought he had finally failed enough to get the boot. The vultures that were circling after Keane losing to then bottom-feedersBolton Wandererstwo weeks ago have been thwarted off again as he now has frustrated them all and saved himself and his job once again. More importantly he ensured that his club would not end the first half at the bottom of the table giving them hope that they can still avoid the drop. West Bromwich Albionare the only club to have managed to ever avoid relegation after finishing the first half at the bottom of the table in the 2004-05 season. On the other hand, Chelsea Football Club's manager Andre Villas-Boas may have cost a bundle to pry away from FC Porto, but he is quickly losing the faith of his fans and quite possibly his owner. He had to dodgeexit questionsafter the match in his press conference which only proves he is only a sheet of thin ice. The Blues managed 18 shots against Aston Villa, but only two were on target as they crashed to yet another dreadful defeat at Stamford Bridge by a score of 1-3 in front of their home crowd. Chelsea have now lost to Arsenal, Liverpool twice as the Reds beat them once in the league and then Carling Cup, drew againstFulhamand then ended the year with this debacle against Villa. Didier Drogba's penalty goal could be his last as the Ivory Coast international is set to be gone for the month of January with his national team at the African Cup of Nations and could even be sold and leave the club altogether. The Blues defense has been a major issue. However, it is uncertain if the arrival of their first signing of January, Bolton Wanderers Gary Cahill, will be of any help. Cahill is Chelea captain John Terry's English National team partner, but he has been a part of the worst defense in the EPL all season and the last thing the Blues need is more bad luck at the back. The Three Lion could also miss the move all together as theTelegraph claims that contract talks with Cahill himself are causing problems. Altogether AVB's performance cannot be complete written off as he is trying to build a team to his own mold. He came in saddled with the partial leftovers of Jose Mourinho's long-gone tenure aging out and the £50 million flop of Fernando Torreswho was bought by Carlo Ancelloti for a different type of style. So the question still remains as to which of either Steve Kean or Andre Villas-Boas are more likely to be out of a job at the end of the season? If Blackburn avoid relegation I think Kean will survive and annoy the fans of the club that believe they are failing to be ambitious enough to ever rise to their former heights of glory in the EPL as one of only four clubs to lift the Premier League trophy. If AVB fails to win the Champions League or fails to finish top four he will be ousted in my opinion as Roman Abramovich is unlikely to accept a performance that terrible. New managers need time, but if he cannot keep the club at least level with where they were last season he won't get the chance to right his wrongs. With Guss Hiddink out of a job, he could find his way back to the Bridge as he was extremely popular with the fans as he brought the 2009 FA Cup home to Chelsea as their interim manager.