The Portuguese boss was axed earlier in March, with the Italian, previously his assistant, handed the reins until the end of the season.

Di Matteo only returned to Chelsea at Villas-Boas' behest after a stint in charge of West Brom, and the Italian said he had no say in the Portuguese's axing.

"I did my best and Andre knows it," Di Matteo told Eurosport-Yahoo!. "I did not conspire against him and all the decisions we took, we took together.

"I have always behaved with the utmost professionalism and loyalty towards the club, the staff, the team and fans."

After having a brief taste of management with West Brom, the ex-Blues midfielder feels he is worthy of his chance to make the step up.

"I deserve my new role," he said. "How can you hesitate when you have the opportunity to manage one of the most important football clubs in the world?

"All new managers inevitably replace a colleague when things go wrong or results are not up to expectations. This is the nature of football."

Di Matteo has also insisted that talk of dressing-room unrest is far from true, suggesting that conflict takes place at all clubs.

"I have never known a dressing room or a group of players which is easy for a manager to control," Di Matteo said.

"Of course there are strong personalities that occasionally collide with each other during the course of a season. But even in the media, do you never have problems with your colleagues or your editors?

"This is a normal work environment at a football club where there is an obligation to win and to always give the best of yourself as an individual and a group. Here at Chelsea we only have top-level footballers and great professional players.

"It is obvious that it is sometimes a challenge to keep so many top players in the same side happy. Everybody wants to play every game and everyone always wants to win but there is no problem with this dressing room."