Torres fires goal warning

FERNANDO TORRES has declared the arrival of good friend Juan Mata and the return of Daniel Sturridge will finally see him justify his £50 million (€58m) price tag at Chelsea.

Torres admits he has been shocked by his run of one goal in 27 games for club and country since his January move from Liverpool.

But the striker pinned part of the blame for his drought on the lack of pace of Chelsea’s “older” players and believes the signing of Spain team-mate Mata and the return from a loan spell — and a three-match ban — of Sturridge will help him regain top form.

Torres will soon be out of excuses for his miserable goal-to-games ratio in 2011, with new Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas having invested in players that should get the best out of the club’s record signing.

Villas-Boas admitted this week he would consider dropping the Spaniard if it was in the team’s interest but Torres is now confident of recapturing the form that made him one of the best players in the world.

“When I changed club, I knew it was going to be a slow process, although I didn’t expect it to be so long,” said Torres.

“Chelsea is, between the English teams, maybe the least English.

“That’s because of the kind of player Chelsea has — an older player, who plays very slow, who has a lot of possession, and that’s what the club is trying to change now.

“It’s normal that it takes some time; it’s not easy to find midfielders because the best are already in the best teams and that’s why I said that the arrival of Mata is going to give another pace to the team.

“Daniel Sturridge, who has been ruled out for some matches, is also an incredible player, maybe the one that surprised me the most since I came here.

“In the next matches, you will see another pace, and I hope the midfield will adapt to that pace. That is what you need in the Premier League. If not, the teams don’t work.

“When the team will start to get the ideas of the new coach, about paced and vertical football, it’s going to be very good.”

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas shrugged off Manchester United and Manchester City’s blistering starts and insists his Chelsea side are good enough “to grab them”.

United and City have stormed to the top of the Premier League, scoring 13 and 12 goals, respectively, in their opening three games.

Chelsea are just two points adrift but have managed to score only five times in their three outings, drawing 0-0 at Stoke before struggling to beat West Brom and then Norwich the Saturday before last.

The following day, they watched City romp to a 5-1 win at Tottenham and United annihilate Arsenal 8-2.

But Villas-Boas was unfazed, saying: “We just hope to score one more goal than the opponents.”

He added: “Man United played to perfection and managed to score a lot. They are, with Man City, leading the table. We want to grab them.

“Our objective is on shortening distance and not on what the others do in terms of performance.”