´Radical´ changes starting to pay off, says Villas-Boas

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas says his side are starting to reap the rewards of changes he has implemented since taking over as boss.

The Stamford Bridge outfit have won three and drawn two of their past five Premier League fixtures, and the Portuguese manager thinks the Chelsea players are getting used to the ‘radical’ adjustments he has made to their style of play.

“For me it’s all good signs,” Villas-Boas said. “I think there has been a radical change in the way Chelsea play and I think it was fantastic to see that we could do that and have the ability to play this football.”

“I was extremely happy with the performance (their 1-1 draw with Spurs at White Hart Lane on Thursday) individually and collectively, and the adaptation to difficult circumstances.”

“For me, one point at White Hart Lane, against title contenders – because Harry (Redknapp, Spurs boss) has made that public – was extremely good for us.”

“We showed extreme levels of resilience and discipline without dropping our level of performance. And when we had the chance we played good football.”

“We responded from our point of crisis with three wins in three matches and we have continued to build on that.”

“Now we have found our route and, at Spurs, we played it to an extent that was massive. It was an honour and a privilege to see this team play football.”

Chelsea face Fulham on Boxing Day and Villas-Boas has set his sights on six points from the club’s final two fixtures of the year, the second of which comes against Aston Villa on Saturday.

“Now it depends what we do in the other Christmas fixtures,” he said.

“If we get the six points from the home games against Fulham and Villa, I think it will have been an extremely good December.”

“If you look at the table, it’s a record-breaking Manchester City that is making the difference.”

“In the Premier League we are not far from championship-winning numbers in terms of past seasons.”