Blues blossomas Torres’ torment ends at last

If Fernando Torres betrayed his bitterness a little after ending his “overall” goal drought against Leicester last month, here was another joyous step back towards normality for the Spanish striker.

It says a great deal about the single-mindedness, or perhaps lack of self-awareness, needed to be a top-level performer in the Premier League that Torres could only bring himself to produce terse and slightly ridiculous responses when he was asked about his four months without a goal after scoring two in the 5-2 FA Cup win over Leicester last month.

A couple of weeks later and the mask was slipping a little bit as Torres helped set up Chelsea’s first three goals before scoring the fourth himself for a first Premier League goal since September.