Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has said that his decision to leave Fernando Torres on the bench on Saturday against Sunderland was down to his rotation policy.

The striker was benched for the 1-2 victory, but came on for the last 17 minutes of the game.

"We have four wonderful strikers and all compete for the position," Villas-Boas said.

"All offer different things because they are different talents. The choice fell to Anelka. It’s nothing special, Fernando has been doing magnificently well in the last three games."

Torres will earn a place in the team that will face Manchester United on Sunday if he performs well in tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen, reports suggest.

The Spanish striker has scored one goal in 23 appearances for the Blues since singing from Liverpool for £50m.