Crazy. Chaotic. Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas showed a commendable command of understatement after a game that offered comfort to the connoisseur and hope to the hopeless.

It was in keeping with the twisted logic of Manchester United's 3-1 win against Chelsea that Villas-Boas seemed more satisfied in defeat than the pursed-lipped Sir Alex Ferguson in victory.

This says much for Ferguson's standards but also for a Chelsea performance that offered plenty of encouragement to their young, but highly self-assured, manager.

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Andre Villas-Boas found a swift solution to one problem surrounding Fernando Torres - whether he is as successful in curing the major difficulty faced by Chelsea's British record signing remains to be seen.

Villas-Boas smiled as he announced an investigation into an interview Torres gave in Spain, which quoted him as making less than flattering remarks about the speed of his older Chelsea team-mates, was over.

The search for the world-class striker that terrorised defenders for Liverpool and Spain goes on and will continue when Chelsea travel to Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.

A visit to the champions and Chelsea's main title rivals should be a perfect fit for a £50m striker, but stark statistics tell the tale. Torres has scored once in 23 appearances for Chelsea, a brutal contrast to 81 goals in 142 games at Anfield.

At Liverpool Torres was the player you could almost hear as well as see reducing defenders of the highest quality, to rubble. On one memorable night when he destroyed Real Madrid in Liverpool's 4-0 win at Anfield, one Spanish journalist reacted to another devastating run with the words: "He is like a golden bullet."

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Emirates Stadium

Arsene Wenger puts all his stock in style - but only the substance of this desperately needed victory would do for Arsenal against Swansea.

Wenger says he could write a book about a summer he jokingly claims prepared him for a journey to Hell. At least he had a happy, not to mention lucky, tale to tell as Arsenal got their first win of the season.

This was hardly heavenly, indeed for long periods in the second half it was ugly, but it was sweet relief from the football firestorm that engulfed the Gunners in the 8-2 defeat at Manchester United.

Arsenal's manager has spent much of the early weeks of a traumatic season cursing his ill-fortune, so he grasped gratefully at the break offered when Swansea's excellent goalkeeper Michel Vorm inexplicably hurled a clearance against Angel Rangel just before half-time.

The rebound fell invitingly for Andrey Arshavin, and on such narrow margins games are won and emotions around a club can change.

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