Fuente: © Chelsea FC
http://www.chelseafc.com/

CHELSEA FC: REACTION: THE RISK PAID OFF

/noticias.info/ After masterminding his side's comeback from a goal down to win 2-1, Avram Grant was impressed with the turnaround, and the way Chelsea played in general.

1-0 down with 20 minutes remaining, Grant took a gamble by bringing on Juliano Belletti and Nicolas Anelka, and switching the formation to a 4-4-2, by moving Michael Essien into central midfield, and withdrawing Michael Ballack and Claude Makelele.

Within a couple of minutes Didier Drogba had levelled the game, before going on to claim a winner with nine minutes remaining. Grant was delighted with how his changes paid off, and the application of his team.

'We played good football from the beginning, unfortunately we conceded a goal, again from a corner, but we responded very well and won the game,' he assessed, before admitting such risks don't always pay off.

'I don't think there is any manager that thinks it will succeed all the time but today it succeeded and I am happy,' he said.

The win leaves us five points behind Manchester United, who beat Liverpool 3-0 at Old Trafford today, though Alex Ferguson's side must still visit Chelsea, leaving the door wide open.

'We need always to chase after Arsenal and Manchester United, we were many points behind and I talked to the players,' Grant explained. 'What we wanted was to [have] the opportunity to come to Stamford Bridge with a game we can win, and if we win we are ahead of them.'

That is now the case with Arsenal, who are five games without a win, and now trailing us by a point.

Grant admitted he does not know where the title will end up, but stressed that he and his players will be going all out to bring it back to west London.

'I don't know, but we will do our best. We check ourselves all the time, since September we had more than 80 percent winning and good games,' he said.

'We scored a lot of goals, since the Carling Cup we scored 20 goals or more in all competitions. I promise to play attacking football and score goals so it is important.'

His hopes have been boosted significantly by the return to form of Didier Drogba, who has shaken off fitness problems to fire three goals in the last two games.

'I think it is about time because since they came back from Africa, all the players were not in the shape they were before,' Grant said of those on African Cup of Nations duty.

'It is reasonable because it was 40 degrees, humid and they didn't train, but against Tottenham he was better and today he was very, very good.'

You can see the game again from midnight on Chelsea TV, with highlights available at the same time on Chelsea Plus. notas_de_prensa_archivo