Carlo Ancelotti: Fernando Torres Was ‘Fantastic’ And Liverpool Deserved To Win

Carlo Ancelotti admitted that Chelsea deserved to lose to Liverpool today but said his team are still in pole position to retain their Premier League crown.

The Stamford Bridge manager was measured in response to Chelsea’s second League defeat of the season following the 1-0 reverse at Manchester City in September.

“We knew it would be difficult to improve our gap here at the top of the league,” said Ancelotti. “We are in a better position compared to the other teams. We need to maintain our focus and not be worried.”

Ancelotti admitted his team were slow out of the blocks in the first half and then struggled to break down the resilient hosts.

He said: “We didn’t play quick enough in the first half. It took a lot of time to build the play from the back and we didn’t have the ability to find space in the opponent’s half. Also, Liverpool defended very well in the first half and on the counter-attack scored two fantastic goals through Torres.

“It was very difficult for us to come back in the second half. We tried and played with strong intensity but Liverpool defensively played very well for 90 minutes. Defensively, all the players played for the team. For this reason, they deserved to win.

“Obviously, the result is not good but the performance in the second half was better. I’m happy with how my team played in the second half. We had a strong pressure; we deserved to score but were not able to.”

Ancelotti paid tribute to Fernando Torres who showed “he is a fantastic striker” and said Liverpool can still squeeze into a Champions League position. “They have the opportunity to come back. They can come back to fourth place and fight for this,” said the Italian.

Didier Drogba did not start the game after coming down with a fever last night and came on at half-time even though he was “not 100 per cent fit”.

Ancelotti expects Michael Essien, who did not travel with the squad, to return from a toe injury on Wednesday against Fulham. “I hope that he will be able to play on Wednesday,” said the manager.