Shevchenko - Backing from MourinhoJose Mourinho has assured Andriy Shevchenko his Chelsea place is under no threat, despite a lack of goals.
Shevchenko has scored only once in six Premiership matches since his £30million summer move from AC Milan - a surprise for a forward considered among the world's best thanks largely to an incredible strike-rate in Italy's Serie A.
Shevchenko has nonetheless been promised a place up front when Chelsea take on Levski Sofia in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Chelsea boss Mourinho said: "The goals will come. He knows I trust him.
"He doesn't have that pressure that the sword is waiting and if you don't score a goal you are out of the team.
"No, he is in the team again.
"He will score goals. He is such a top player in the world he has nothing to prove.
"If he is one, two or three months without scoring goals he is still one of the best strikers in the world."
Shevchenko, 29, has more Champions League goals than any other player in the history of the competition. He scored nine in 12 matches for AC Milan last season - yet drew another blank on his European debut for Chelsea against Werder Bremen.
The Ukrainian scored in the FA Community Shield against Liverpool. But his only competitive goal for his new club came in the 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough, more than a month ago.
He has gone five matches without a goal and has yet to produce anything like his best form - but his manager was satisfied with his unselfish efforts in Saturday's 2-0 win at Fulham.
Mourinho said: "I know strikers ... they live for goals. Their happiness is more about scoring goals, but he gave me a big contribution at Fulham.
"At half-time, I only wanted to say one thing and I told him - if they wanted to play man-for-man in midfield we had to get an extra player to go into that space, to get the ball and play from there.
"That player cannot be (Didier) Drogba. It has to be 'Sheva' because he is confident with a ball at his feet. He can receive and turn and pass.
"In the second half, he had a big responsibility for the way we broke down the defensive strategy of Fulham.
"He knows he didn't score a goal but he plays on Wednesday, because I'm happy with the contribution he gave us.''
Mourinho has changed his successful 4-3-3 formation to accommodate Shevchenko and Drogba up front and will not abandon his plan.
He said: "It works. Chelsea are winning matches. Chelsea are scoring goals. The combination is working. He is a team player.''
Mourinho has taken a crash course about Levski Sofia, studying tapes of their matches against Barcelona and CSKA Sofia over the weekend.
As he left Craven Cottage on Saturday, he admitted: "I know nothing about Levski at this point. Zero.
"I go home now, have dinner and after dinner I watch three hours of
football.''
Chelsea coach Mick McGiven saw Levski win 3-0 in Smolian on Friday.
The Bulgarian champions are seven points clear at the top of their domestic league but they were hammered 5-0 by Barcelona on their debut in the Champions League group stage, earlier this month.
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