Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari has dubbed the amazing throw-in ability of Stoke City midfielder Rory Delap as "fantastic".

Scolari said: "They have one man - Delap - it is fantastic.

"I think he plays the ball better with his hands than his foot ... it's fantastic!"

Stoke narrowed their pitch during the summer to the minimum permitted dimensions of 100 metres by 64m.

And Delap's 37mph missiles have helped create goals against Everton and Aston Villa this season.

Scolari, who takes his side to the Britannia Stadium this afternoon, added: "I have never seen anything like it in my life.

"Teams in the national competition don't have this style. Stoke make many goals with this, we need to think about controlling this situation and counter-attack. I have been thinking about this for a few days. Maybe we have some situations we'll explore against this throw-in, we will see.

"In training today and yesterday, I had one idea about this and I will try to put it on to the pitch. It's dangerous because the ball does not fly, it's direct.

"I like this because it's different, I've never seen it in my life. Ten metres outside midfield, this boy puts the ball inside the area. Maybe we should think about it in training every day.

"It's one hour on throw-ins and one hour normal! Forget shooting the ball ... this works very well!

"It's dangerous because the ball cannot be taken by the goalkeeper."