You don’t have a clue! Chelsea boss Benítez blasts Torres critics

Rafael Benítez has once again come out in defence of Fernando Torres, labelling the Chelsea striker’s critics as “clueless”.

Torres, 28, failed to find the net for the seventh game running on Sunday as goals from Juan Mata and Frank Lampard gave the Blues a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

But despite watching the Spain striker fire another blank, Benítez insisted he was pleased with the £50m forward’s display and hit out at his detractors.

“Fernando was doing a great job,” said the Chelsea interim boss after Sunday’s win. “Afterwards, [substitute] Demba [Ba] gave us something we didn’t have before.

“These people who like to quote stats and stats, they don’t have any clue about what is going on.

“When you have one striker for a month and a half and cannot change, it’s more difficult for the striker. When you have now two strikers, you can manage.”

Chelsea, who remain in third place in the Premier League table after Sunday’s win, travel to Swansea City for the return leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final on Wednesday. The Blues were beaten 2-0 by the Swans in the first leg.