Blues consider Torres gamble

CARLO ANCELOTTI has revealed he would consider gambling Chelsea’s entire season — and possibly his own future — on Fernando Torres in today’s Barclays Premier League game against West Ham.

Blues manager Ancelotti refused to rule out resting the red-hot Didier Drogba and recalling £50 million (€58m) flop Torres for the must-win game at Stamford Bridge.

That is despite seeing the same decision backfire spectacularly in last week’s Champions League defeat at Manchester United, a result which left Ancelotti all but resigned to losing his job.

Opting for Drogba over Torres in the two games since then has given Chelsea a glimmer of hope of completing the greatest comeback in Premier League title history — something that would surely make owner Roman Abramovich think twice about sacking his manager.

The Blues realistically need to win their five remaining games to stand any chance of overhauling United’s six-point lead. They also need to score enough times to ensure they have a superior goal difference to United should that come into play.

So ditching Drogba today for a player who has now gone 893 minutes without finding the net would be an almighty gamble by Ancelotti, but it is one he would be willing to take.

“Maybe I can use some rotation to maintain the players’ freshness,” Ancelotti said.

“It wouldn’t be easy to leave Drogba out, but there’s a chance we could leave him out on Saturday.

“We started with Torres against (Manchester) City. We won the game when Didier came on. It might be a good solution to give him the last 30 minutes of the game because he’s fresh and fit.”

What Ancelotti failed to point out was that Chelsea only beat City last month after Torres had left the field.

In fact, the champions have scored just one goal in their last eight matches while the striker has been on the pitch, with the remaining 10 coming during his absence.

Ancelotti is unconcerned, however saying: “To score one goal, for him, could be the best medicine.

“Everyone has to know that Fernando is the present and the future of this club. We cannot judge now. He’ll play a lot of games for Chelsea.”

Ancelotti also insisted he would not be afraid to abandon the 4-3-3 formation which has been crucial to Chelsea’s resurgence. The Italian experimented with 4-4-2 following the club’s worst run in the league for almost 15 years but, despite moderate success, the players have thrived since Ancelotti reverted to a three-pronged attack.

He said: “Our shape is good. The players are comfortable with that.

“We can change it in the next game — it depends on the shape of the opposition team.”

That opposition team is a West Ham side whose hopes of avoiding relegation are looking as slim as Chelsea’s title chances. The champions will be expected to brush them aside but Ancelotti said: “It’s difficult to prepare, to stay concentrated, but we have to know we’ll have a tough game. When one teams needs the points to stay up, they’ll do more than 100%.”