Lampard fancies Torres to 'fly'

More than 15 hours since he last found the net for club or country, Torres began to repay his record-breaking £50million price tag when he helped the Blues beat West Ham 3-0 on Saturday to keep their slim Premier League title hopes alive. The Spain striker's goal sparked unforgettable scenes at a sodden Stamford Bridge as he was mobbed by every one of his outfield team-mates, including Lampard. After going 732 minutes and 13 appearances without scoring since joining Chelsea almost three months ago, Torres had been in danger of being branded the most expensive flop in football history. Midfielder Lampard applauded the way his new team-mate had handled the huge pressure on his shoulders and warned Saturday's goal was just the beginning for the 27-year-old. "A world-class striker comes with a massive price tag," said Lampard, who opened the scoring against the Hammers. "You can't change quality and you can't change a world-class player. We've seen it with him in his career and nothing changes. "He's a quiet lad, he's not opened his mouth. If he's been on the bench, he's come on and not said anything. "It was always going to be a matter of time and I think now you're going to see him fly, whether it be the last few games of this season or next season." Saturday's game was the third in succession Torres had been forced to start as a substitute, with manager Carlo Ancelotti deciding he could not risk leaving out the in-form Didier Drogba. But the Italian insisted he had never doubted Torres would come good. "I never lost the confidence in his ability and skills because he is a fantastic striker," he said. "I said a lot of times that we have to be patient because it was a new club for him, he needed to take time to know better our play, to know better his team-mates. Now is a good time for him to show his quality." Ancelotti revealed afterwards he would spend the coming week attempting to get Torres and Drogba into the same team, despite their failure to strike up an understanding when they have previously played together. He added: "They don't have a problem to play together." Chelsea's victory moved them back to within six points of leaders Manchester United, who beat Everton in the lunchtime kick-off. Lampard and Ancelotti both admitted the champions' hopes of retaining their title rested on the next fortnight, which sees United travel to Arsenal before hosting the Blues at Old Trafford. Lampard said: "We can only win the title if we win all our games and Manchester United drop points. They're in the driving seat and we can only do what we can do and that includes going to Manchester United. "We've got a huge game against Tottenham next week. If we can win that then Manchester United might slip up against Arsenal. Then we can do it. "We've got to keep our heads straight and keep doing our own thing." Ancelotti, who should discover on Monday the extent of the muscle injury that saw Michael Essien limp off, added: "In the next 15 days, there is Chelsea-Tottenham, Arsenal-Man United, Man United-Chelsea. I think there will be decided the title." West Ham's fate is unlikely to be sealed in the next fortnight, despite Saturday's defeat seeing them end the weekend back on the bottom of the table. Other results went their way to ensure they stayed two points adrift of safety ahead of next Sunday's trip to Manchester City. They blew their chance to snatch at least a point at Stamford Bridge while the game was in the balance and manager Avram Grant said: "Because of our position, sometimes the players, when they come to a chance, are not so relaxed. "We need to continue to create chances but the percentage of using chances is not so good for us." He added: "The players give everything and, of course, there's pressure because they want to stay in the league. They think and I think we deserve to play in this league. This is pressure but we need to play with this pressure. "There are other teams also with this pressure."