Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has taken his side to the sunny Spanish city of Mallorca, where they will spend a few days training and relaxing, chelseafc.com reports. The Blues face a hostile welcome at Loftus Road against QPR next weekend and then a crunch Premier League clash with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on February 5th.
The squad are in the Spanish city to break from routine, according to the Blues boss, and they will need a good amount of preparation for their next two games. The Blues travel back to Loftus Road, the scene of John Terry’s alleged racist crime to Anton Ferdinand, and can expect a volatile welcome from the R’s fans in a huge FA Cup fourth round tie. Chelsea then face reigning Premier League champions United and will need a win to keep their title hopes alive after a season of inconsistent performances. In between those games is a trip to the Liberty Stadium to face Swansea and Villas-Boas hopes the break in Spain will refresh his side and allow them to come back to England ready for the second half of the season.
‘It is a change of environment to a different place to break the routine a little bit – it’s nothing new to English teams. We decided to go to Spain and not the Middle East just because of the difference of the time zones, it is much more aggressive and more tiring there, otherwise we would have gone over there. It is nothing new, winter camps are normally done with Premier League teams and we decided to opt for Spain’,Villas-Boas said.
Villas-Boas has also spoken about Spanish international Fernando Torres, who missed a guilt-edged chance to give Chelsea the victory in their 0-0 draw with Norwich. The Blues boss insists Torres is in good form and once he gets one or two goals, the rest will start to flow in abundance.
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