Chelsea captain John Terry has defended the club’s underperforming strikers by insisting they should not be blamed for their inconsistent form in the title race this term.
Jose Mourinho’s side may have secured a point at rivals Arsenal to move within two points of leaders Liverpool, but they rarely threatened with Fernando Torres ineffective once again up front.
Torres, Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o have just five League goals in 30 appearances between them, which compares woefully to the efforts of Luis Suarez, who has netted 19 in just 12 matches for Liverpool.
Despite still having the third best goal-scoring record in the table, Mourinho has also expressed his frustration over his forwards the past few months.
But Terry said: “Everyone is speaking at the moment about strikers not scoring. They’ve chipped in with a few. Ideally you could expect a bit more from them, but people forget the game-play and link-up play as well, which enables Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and Oscar to get in behind them.
“There is a lot of pressure on our forwards, but ideally you look for someone, not just the strikers, to step up. Lampard almost did it in the first half against Arsenal (when he struck the bar).
“We’re in amongst it. We can get better home and away so while everyone is dropping points around us, in the new year we have to start firing and go on a good run of games. If we do that we’re more than capable of pulling away from everyone.”
Terry also feels Chelsea’s defence made a statement at Emirates Stadium, even though it was just their second clean sheet in 12 League matches.
He added: “A lot of people have been speculating about us conceding too many, but we’re third in the league in terms of conceding.
“There have been a few games where we have let in more than we’re used to, but overall we have been very solid.”
