Matos seeks Swansea response after hardest day

Vitor Matos says Swansea City will aim to "go back to ourselves" against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday as they look to respond after a humbling defeat at Queens Park Rangers.

Swansea have been left licking wounds after the 5-0 hammering at Loftus Road, the club's joint-heaviest league loss in 24 years.

Matos called QPR "the hardest" day of his managerial career "result-wise" – but has been buoyed by his players' reaction on the training ground.

"It was of course a quite demanding week as you will expect," the Swansea head coach said.

"But we had honest conversations between us and I think what I'm pleased with was the reaction on the training pitch, with the intensity, with the togetherness, with the ambition.

"That was good to see and of course what we now want is to react on Saturday."

The QPR reverse means Swansea have slipped to back-to-back league defeats for the first time this season.

Having lost narrowly at home to West Ham United the previous weekend, Matos' men return to the Swansea.com Stadium to take on an in-form Blackburn side.

Matos, whose team remain second in the Championship despite their difficult week, has never suffered three straight losses since taking charge of the Swans 11 months ago.

He says the nature of the Rangers loss, when Swansea collapsed defensively after conceding inside two minutes, highlights the need to maintain standards in the second tier.

"It's a reminder for all of us," Matos added.

"If you allow your opponent to have something, they all try to take an advantage.

"It's a really competitive league - good squads, good players, good managers. So you really need to be always spot on and that's what we've been working on."

Swansea will again be without wingers Moussa Yeo and Ronald against Blackburn – as well as long-term injury victim Cameron Burgess – but they are boosted by the return of right-back Josh Key after almost seven weeks out.

Tony Mowbray's 10th-placed Rovers side have won four of their past six matches, though they have managed only one away triumph so far this season.