Blues can still end up top of the pile

IT MAY have taken 14 games and 732 minutes to score his first goal for Chelsea but Fernando Torres refused to throw his toys out of the pram and you could sense from his celebrations that he intends to become a major star for the west London club.

Torres finally got his career back on track as he broke his goal drought against West Ham and could now finally start to repay the £50m fee which Roman Abramovich forked out to sign him.

Many critics in the game questioned if Chelsea had the made the right move to sign Torres in the first place back in the January transfer window.

Carlo Ancelotti’s team suffered a major dip in form and maybe it was just ironic, but when Torres was picked to play, they struggled to produce the free-flowing football which had seen them enjoy such a memorable start to the season.

Theories were being thrown around that Torres was solely an Abramovich buy and that Ancelotti was being forced to pick the Spanish international.

Chelsea were knocked out of the FA Cup by Everton in just the fourth round and were then beaten by Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-finals.

By the start of April, Chelsea only had the league left to play for and speculation surrounded the long-term future of Ancelotti.

But whoever was responsible for signing Torres, the player and manager have come together at just the right time and with seven wins from their last eight league games, they are still in the race to close the gap on leaders Manchester United.

Torres may have been dropped from the team, but he refused to moan about the situation and his colleague Frank Lampard believes that attitude won over a number of his team-mates, who swamped the former Liverpool marksman when he raced away to celebrate that illusive first goal.

Lampard said: “Fair play to him, he’s not opened his mouth and said anything when he’s been on the bench. He’s come on and given everything. I think all the boys understood the pressure he was under.

“It’s been building up for a while and we knew that without saying it, if he did score he was going to get that sort of reaction. He’s a really good lad. He’s kept his head down. The fans have been brilliant with him and got behind him.

“It’s typical. When you’re that good a player and you come with that big a price tag and you don’t score for a few games, you’ve got to listen to people saying you’re a bad player.

“That’s not right and he was always going to show it on the pitch.

“It was a well taken goal and I think now you’re gonna see him fly — whether that’s in the remaining games of this season or next.”

It remains to be seen if Torres has done enough to win back his place in the starting line-up against Tottenham next Saturday. Chelsea can close the gap at the top to just three points as they play 24 hours before Manchester United face Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Torres believes Chelsea can have a bright future under Ancelotti and sees no reason why they cannot win the title this season.

Torres said: “This season they (Chelsea) have played good football all the time, but there was one period when results weren’t so good. Now we’re six points behind United. Things can improve. We have to keep winning.

“We know it’s going to be hard but we have belief. We’ll see if something happens over the next few weeks. Chelsea is not just about this season. It’s about being the strongest side in the years ahead.”

Ancelotti has no doubts that a Chelsea win over Tottenham will put a great deal of pressure on Alex Ferguson’s side.

Ancelotti said: “If we are able to win against Tottenham I think we can put more pressure on Manchester United in the game against Arsenal.

“It was very difficult to think two months ago that we could stay with the lead so for this reason, at this moment, we are happy and we want to continue to be happy.”

In stark contrast West Ham are facing a major fight to retain their top flight status after they were left rooted to the foot of the table following this defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Despite the treacherous weather conditions which caused surface water to effect the run of the ball, West Ham showed enough fighting spirit to suggest they could yet claw their way out of trouble, but they were not clinical enough in front of goal.

Substitute Robbie Keane was brought in to save the club and he really should have levelled 16 minutes from time when Jonathan Spector’s through ball left him with just Petr Cech to beat but he blazed his first-time finish wide.

Chelsea made them pay as Lampard, Torres and Florent Malouda sealed all three points for the home side.

Despite another major setback, West Ham manager Avram Grant is hoping that the return of influential midfielder Scott Parker from an Achilles injury can help save their season as they prepare for what will surely be another tough trip to face Manchester City next weekend.

Grant said: “I want him to play but it depends on his condition.

“You know with Parker if it’s 50-50 he will always play. I hope he will be ready soon.

“Every player wants to play with him and we need to get results. We showed what we can play like.

“The gap has stayed at two points, which is good.

“ Whatever happens next week, we’re still in there,” he added.