Torres breaks Chelsea duck at last

Fernando Torres finally ended his Chelsea goal-drought as the Spain striker came off the bench to score his first goal for the club against West Ham on Saturday.

Torres had gone 13 games without a goal since his British record £50 million transfer from Liverpool in January, but he brought a halt to that dismal sequence with a cool finish in the 84th minute at Stamford Bridge.

Sent on to replace Didier Drogba just minutes earlier, Torres turned sharply and curled the ball past Robert Green before sliding to his knees to celebrate his first goal since he scored for Liverpool at Wolves on January 22.

Torres had not found the net for 901 minutes for club and country, including 732 for Chelsea, and he admitted he was relieved to rediscover his goal touch at last.

"It was not the beginning I was expecting when I signed, but it's not easy to go in January or February," he told ESPN.

"I kept working and it's thanks to all my team-mates that I scored. There's less pressure for me now, now I can enjoy it.

"Today the pitch was not the best to score the goal, but football is like this."

Torres insisted he was never disheartened by the tough start to his Chelsea career, but admitted he owed the fans that goal for keeping faith with him.

"The fans have been very patient with me," he added. "I had more and more anxiety for them than for me. Hopefully this is the first of many."

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti believes Torres's goal will herald a new beginning for the striker.

"It was perfect. Everyone waited for Fernando to score and he scored," Ancelotti said.

"For him from today it will be a new life. I think from today he will have a fantastic future here in this club.

"The big problem was he came in to a new club and it was not easy to find a relationship with the new team-mates and the play but now the bad moments have gone."