Rafael Benitez hopes a break from Stamford Bridge will help Chelsea end their goalscoring drought after they drew another blank against Fulham.
The Blues made it three games without finding the net and two straight goalless draws for the first time since Roman Abramovich bought the club in Wednesday night's west London derby. That saw them slip seven points adrift of top spot in the Premier League, with Benitez so far only able to stop the rot that had set in at the back.
But despite seeing Chelsea manage a handful of shots on target across his two games in charge, the Spaniard insisted there were still goals in the side. And he hopes matches away from home, where the Blues can play on the break, will help them regain their confidence.
"If you have more space, with the quality we have, we might have different chances," said Benitez, whose side play five of their next six matches away from Stamford Bridge, including two at the Club World Cup.
Benitez admitted Chelsea need wins, starting at West Ham on Saturday, where they will once again be without John Terry and Frank Lampard, and probably Daniel Sturridge. That almost certainly means another outing for Fernando Torres, who showed no sign of breaking his own latest goalscoring drought last night. Chelsea fans, who kept faith with the £50million man for so long, have now started to turn.
Benitez can only dream of such patience. After being subjected to a cacophony of jeers and abuse during his first game in charge on Sunday, he was spared a repeat until the closing moments of last night's game.
Perhaps more telling were the chants of, "We want our Chelsea back", in front of the watching Abramovich, the closest supporters have ever come to publicly criticising the club's billionaire benefactor.
Source: team_talk
