The Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has said that he has certainly improved a lot as a player during his 18 months at the London club Chelsea. Fernando Torres moved to Chelsea from Liverpool in a deal worth £ 50 million, which makes him the record also amongst British clubs.

However, he has so far failed to ignite the world on fire in his 18 months. In fact, he has been very disappointing in terms of his return with goals. Even though he may have helped Chelsea win the Champions League and FA Cup last season while also contributing towards the Euro 2012 victory for Spain, last season was one to forget for the Spaniard.

Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo has said that he wants more from his lacklustre players, who experienced their third straight defeat in the pre-season friendly against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, whilst Jack Wilshere was in the stands to watch.

This was the final friendly match for Chelsea before they take on Premier league champions Manchester city in the Community Shield. Then, it is straight into the new Premier league season. Chelsea were expected to be one of the contenders for the Premier league and the Champions League title this season after having spent close to £ 100 million in the transfer window. More than six attacking players have arrived at the club this period.

The Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo has said that he is not going to talk about the Brazilian midfielder Oscar, who is reported to have secured a £ 25 million move to Stamford Bridge. It has been revealed in the last few hours that Oscar is extremely close to completing his Chelsea move after undergoing a medical.

He is currently in London along with the Brazilian Olympic team in order to take part at the London Olympics 2012. He is expected to complete the deal after the end of the Olympics tournament. He is the third major acquisition for Chelsea in the summer transfer window after they have already secured the signings of Eden Hazard and Marko Marin.

European champions Chelsea has said that the offer from the council to help them with regard to the stadium expansion is nothing new.

They have also said that they have been left unsatisfied with the efforts taken by the Council in order to help them increase the stadium capacity. Chelsea's current stadium capacity of just 42,000 puts them way behind the top clubs in Europe like Manchester United and Barcelona, who have more than 75,000 capacity in their stadiums.

After winning the European Cup for the first time in their history, Chelsea have set their sights on increasing the stadium capacity as the only means of guaranteeing them increased revenues.

Arsenal have been the best example of having a substantial increase in revenues following the move to the 60,000 seater Emirates stadium. Chelsea have looked at the possibility of moving to the Battersea power station, but they have been dealt a blow after their bid was not successful.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has said that the club are extremely happy that both Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba are coming into form at just the right stage in the season.

Didier Drogba showed that he is still one of the greatest strikers in the world by scoring the winning goal against Barcelona a few weeks ago. Fernando Torres, meanwhile, showed that he has not forgotten how to finish after scoring a wonderful hat-trick in the 6-1 victory over QPR during the weekend. This now means that Torres has now scored seven goals in his last 11 appearances for Chelsea.

The form of both the strikers is extremely encouraging for goalkeeper Petr Cech, who is also looking like his old self in the last few weeks. Cech made a number of crucial saves against Barcelona to keep Chelsea in the match.