Benitez Turning It Around

Chelsea have just demolished Aston Villa 8-0 at Stamford Bridge to secure interim manager Rafael Benitez’s first home win and unsurprisingly at the final whistle there was an eruption of applause from the home support.

The fans at Stamford Bridge were wholly against the appointment of Benitez following the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo, 6 months after leading the club to Champions League victory as caretaker manager, and booed the Spaniard during a 1-1 draw against his former side Liverpool.

Hardly in the job for 2 minutes and Benitez was jetting off to Japan with his squad for the FIFA World Club Championship. Chelsea reached the final but were beaten 1-0 by Brazilian side Corinthians and Benitez must have been ready for a backlash from the fans on return to England.

Back on English soil and Chelsea had a Capital One Cup game away at Leeds United to deal with, despite going 1-0 down Chelsea went on to a convincing 5-1 win to put the club in the semi finals. 13 goals in 2 games and Benitez, following a few hiccoughs, has really got Chelsea and particularly 2 players playing well.

David Luiz has been a liability for Chelsea at times but moved from centre back to centre midfield by Benitez he is thriving and showing his class. The Brazilian looks brilliant breaking up opposition attacks, splitting defences with his passes and showing his quality, with both feet, on the ball.

The other man is Fernando Torres. Benitez has got his compatriot, who he worked with at Liverpool, looking more like a £50 million than at any other time in a Chelsea shirt, 7 goals in 6 games shows that.

Sam Jewell

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