Chelsea
2-1
Arsenal

Lampard (16' pen.), Mata (6')

FT(HT: 2-0)

Walcott (58')

Build-up

Rafael Benitez hails 'fantastic' Fernando Torres

By Matt Cotton, Reporter | 21 January 2013

Rafael Benitez says that Chelsea striker Fernando Torres was "fantastic" in the win over Arsenal, despite failing to score for the seventh consecutive match.

Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez has labelled Fernando Torres as "fantastic" after his performance against Arsenal on Sunday.

First-half goals from Juan Mata and Frank Lampard were enough to give the Blues a 2-1 win over the Gunners at Stamford Bridge, in a game where Torres cut an lonely figure in attack.

The Spanish striker has now failed to score in his last seven games for the European champions, but Benitez believes that the 28-year-old is still playing well.

"Fernando Torres was great," said Benitez. "He was fantastic for the team. He was working so hard. We needed his effort, his runs, his movement to create the space for the second line.

"Obviously he didn't score but he did a great job. The addition of Demba Ba is something we didn't have before.

"For a month and a half we've had one striker, now we have two and that is great. It means we can manage the games and cope with a little bit more."

Chelsea travel to Swansea City for their Capital One Cup semi-final second-leg on Wednesday.