Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti explained that Fernando Torres was a bench warmer against FC Copenhagen on Wednesday night in order to keep him fresh for Sunday's clash at Manchester City. The £50million striker has endured a frustrating time since joining the Blues in January, failing to find the net in any of his six appearances for the Londoners.
"The players not involved from the beginning tonight will play on Sunday," he said. "I wanted to maintain the players fresh and with good motivation.
"If we want to achieve something, we'll need all the players with good motivation."
Torres came off the bench midway through the second half to replace Anelka.
Ancelotti added: "The only reason (he didn't start) is that we will have these players - Essien, Malouda and Torres - fresh for City."
The Italian insists his team selection for the City game had been made before the disappointing performance against the Danes.
"No, absolutely not," he responded when asked. "I'd already decided the selection to play against City.
"The atmosphere now is really good. After Copenhagen, everything was okay. The results were good, the performances... the injured players are coming back in good condition.
"Maybe on Friday we'll have all the squad training. This is important for us to do 100% of our possibilities.
"If all these players give 100%, we have a lot of chances of arriving in the final stages.
"To maintain this we have to try to win every game. We have to pay attention.
"Sunday will be very important for us, for City - a very difficult game for both teams. We have to be ready to try to win."
