It was a moment that the Chelsea faithful had been waiting for. Having started on the bench for the fifth successive game, playing second fiddle to a re-vitalised Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres was, once again, required to make another substitute appearance for the Blues and, potentially, add to his 895 minutes worth of game time without scoring a goal.
It was the 76th minute at Stamford Bridge when Carlo Ancelotti called his £50m man to the touchline before giving his final instructions to the Spaniard. With the rain pelting down in West London, West Ham were raining in the chances and looking more and more likely to equalise. Robbie Keane missed a sitter while Carlton Cole, one-on-one with Petr Cech, opted against shooting and another opportunity went begging.
However, Torres, when called upon this time, looked like a new man. Desperately short of confidence in recent weeks, this ‘Nando was the very same Liverpool fans had seen during his better times at Anfield. With United having picked up a massive three points over Everton earlier in the afternoon, and with title rivals Arsenal not playing until the next day, a win was a must for Chelsea in order to leap-frog the Gunners into second place.
When the chance finally presented itself to Torres, it looked as though Mother Nature was even against the former Liverpool striker. The ball stuck in the water as the striker looked to latch on to a Nicholas Anelka ball, completely bamboozling the West Ham defence before, without even having to look where the goal was, Torres unleashed a low drive that beat Rob Green in the West Ham goal.
Cue mad celebrations around Stamford Bridge as Torres slid towards the Matthew Harding Stand, arms aloft, before being mobbed by every Chelsea player, bar Cech. You can see the look of relief on the striker’s face who had gone a record 903 minutes of football, for club and country, without hitting the back of the net.
Proving his cameo appearance was anything but a fluke, Torres then went on to set-up Florent Malouda’s thunderous effort in the dying embers of the game as the Frenchman unleashed a bullet of an striker from 22 yards past Green and into the top corner. Granted, the assist was a complete fluke (a wayward pass that was meant to start a one-two with Anelka) but an assist nonetheless.
His effort in the 15 minutes he was on the field warranted enough for Sky Sports News to award the striker an ‘8’ for his performance thus turning in a man of the match for his appearance. Many supporters, pundits and team mates are predicting the floodgates to open for Torres now that the first goal has gone in and you would be hard pushed to find football fan to disagree with them.
For Torres, his Chelsea career began four months ago; it is only now that it is really beginning to gain some momentum.
Ben McAleer
Follow Ben on Twitter @BenMcAleer1