Filed under: Chelsea, Premier League, Football
For the time being at least, the conundrum facing Andre Villas-Boas over how to accommodate Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba is over.Drogba's concussion, suffered in the victory over Norwich when he was accidentally punched by John Ruddy and knocked unconscious, means he will miss the next two Chelsea games.
Chelsea manager Villas-Boas could also be missing the Ivory Coast striker against Manchester United on Sunday week, with the Portuguese coach confirming: "Let's push it to the limit to try for him to be available for Man United.
"He has to be authorised medically to make his full return to training. We just have to make sure that he's fully recovered before he comes back to training because that's the requirement you have to do neurologically."
Problem solved then. Torres to lead the attack against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light without a club legend watching on from the bench and waiting for his chance, as Drogba has done for the first three games of the season.
But it is not that simple when it comes to Chelsea and how they handle their expensive strikers.
Villas-Boas has Daniel Sturridge returning from suspension and judging by his form on loan at Bolton last season and then for the England Under-21s in their European Championships, he is the in-form striker at Chelsea right now.
As for Torres, he did not make the substitutes' bench for Spain's victory over Liechtenstein, a new low that followed a run of one goal in 21 games since his £50 million move from Anfield in January.
"I don't phone other managers to tell them what they are doing," was Villas-Boas' assessment. "All players push to be selected and to be the best and the best are selected."
Torres appears to approaching a crossroads in his career at Chelsea. He could be the next Andriy Shevchenko, who flopped. Or he could be the next Drogba, who overcame a tricky start to his career at the club.
Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou can give the impression of being happy to be part of the squad. But that is not the case with Sturridge.
"Sturridge has trained very well since we started pre-season," Villas-Boas said. "He is very competitive in training. You saw the part he could play in pre-season and at Bolton. It's a plus that he is on for selection and can add to the team as well."
It could bring the best out of Torres, or he could replace him in the starting line-up if the goals continue to dry up.
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