‘It is normal, he is taking his time’ - Chelsea's Andre Villas-Boas remains confident in Fernando Torres despite goal drought

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has once again leapt to the defence of misfiring striker Fernando Torres after the Spaniard reached a landmark 1000 minutes without a goal.

In a run which stretches back over 17 games, Torres has suffered his most barren spell in front of goal in his four-and-a-half years in England.

However, Villas-Boas is remaining calm about his striker’s lack of goals and insists his all-round play has been up to standard.

"It is normal, he is taking his time," Villas-Boas told reporters.

"The confidence is there and we believe a lot in the player, he helped the team with his lay-offs and passing and in this situation he has to continue to persist and maybe we can create opportunities that can help us win games.

"If we need to create more opportunities for him to score then that's what we need to do.”

Torres has had a prolonged run in the first team of late due to the absence of Salomon Kalou and in particular Didier Drogba, who are both away with Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations.

Villas-Boas is eagerly anticipating the return of Drogba, insisting it will provide "healthy competition" for the Spaniard, and insists the ex-Marseille man wants to stay at the club.

"The two players [Drogba and Torres] compete for the striker position, when Didier arrives back it will be healthy competition and we know the significance of Didier to this team and his goals record.

"We will reassess things when Didier comes back and see how tired he is. His ambition is to stay with us and try and win trophies, so he will be a major plus for the team."