£50m Fernando Torres not in 'best' Chelsea team

Chelsea's most expensive player Fernando Torres will be relegated to the bench for the crucial tie against Manchester City on Wednesday despite ending his five-month goal drought at the weekend.

Interim Blues boss Roberto di Matteo will not be taking any chances as he fields his "best team" in the away clash at Etihad.

"It's great to have such fantastic firepower available and it hurts to leave out players of this calibre," admitted the former Chelsea midfielder who has turned around their fortunes following the exit of Andre Villas-Boas.

"It will be tough on whoever is left out but I can only fill 11 positions so I must look at the form of the players and see which team best suits us to win the game," he added.
 
It means Didier Drogba will get the nod over £50 million Chelsea flop Torres ho is desperate to play after hitting two in Sunday's 5-2 FA Cup win over Leicester, his first goals since October.

His Spain and Blues team-mate Juan Mata believes Torres has finally regained faith in his scoring skills.
 
The Chelsea midfielder admits his team-mate felt the pain during his drought.
 
Mata said: "He went through a tough period. He was suffering because he was not scoring. He is playing more often now and he is regaining trust in himself."

Meanwhile, Roberto di Matteo has no qualms about taking his Chelsea side to Premier League title contenders Manchester City on Wednesday despite the absence of injured captain John Terry.

Former Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas, shortly before he was sacked, labelled City's squad "a lot better" than the one at Stamford Bridge.

But although Chelsea are 14 points behind City, caretaker manager and former Blues midfielder di Matteo said: "I think we have a very good team and squad, a very strong one, and we've shown it over the years.

"The table shows that they (City) have won more games this season than we have. But, I think we are very competitive."

City have won all 14 of their league matches at Eastlands so far this season, while Chelsea have gone four away games without a win.

"We will try, yes, for sure. They're obviously very strong at home, everybody knows that. But every run comes to an end," di Matteo said of a City team managed by fellow former Italy international Roberto Mancini.

"We've got a lot of players that have played many, many important games and crucial games and Premier League games, and that is certainly a factor that is within our team."

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