Drogba and Torres 'can play together'

Carlo Ancelotti yesterday denied that it would be a risk to return to a 4-4-2 formation for Chelsea's remaining games. Ancelotti played 4-4-2 after the arrival of Fernando Torres but recently reverted to 4-3-3, with some success. He said yesterday, though, that he was confident about pairing Torres and Didier Drogba together in future and may do so against Tottenham tomorrow. Chelsea need a win to maintain any hopes of a serious title challenge.

The Italian has not given up on integrating Torres into his side and believes that a potential partnership with Drogba is worth pursuing. "When you have good players," he said yesterday, "you have to try to put them together. Maybe they can sacrifice something of their ability, of their skills, but they can play together. If you are able to do this, I think it is good for the team, to get good results. Obviously, today it's too early to take a decision about this because we have another training session tomorrow. But I think it will not be a surprise if they can start on Saturday together."

While Ancelotti suggested a preference for the pairing of Torres and Drogba rather than a single-striker system, he also argued that formations were less important than the application of the players. "The best solution would be to play 4-4-2 if they play together," he said. "I think that we don't have a problem to play 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. The result doesn't depend on the shape that you use. The result depends on the motivation that the players have, on the spirit that the players use on the pitch during the game."