Sturridge praises coach Villas Boas

Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge has praised his coach Andre Villas Boas, and thanked the Portuguese manager for having faith in him.

The England under-21 forward has been suspended after being sent off for Bolton on the last day of last season, but returned to the Stamford Bridge starting line-up against Sunderland on Saturday.

Sturridge was preferred to out of form Fernando Torres, and scored a terrific goal to give the London club a 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light.

“The competition for places is very tough in the squad and the manager has shown huge faith in me to put me in the team after a three-game ban, because I’ve been training for the last five weeks, including the international break,” the attacker told the club’s official website.

“It was a huge result to come away from Sunderland with three points. It’s a great stadium and their fans sing very loud. Now we need to keep winning and put pressure on the Manchester clubs.”

Sturridge converted a through-ball by new signing Raul Meireles with an audacious back-heel, and was delighted to score on his return to the team.

“It was a great ball from Raul Meireles, great vision from him and I got across the centre-half (Wes Brown) and saw the keeper coming out, so I just went for a little cheeky one.

“The only way I could have scored was to do that and it paid off. I’ve done it in training a few times but it is completely different in a game. I thought that he (Brown) was going to get to it before it crossed the line and it was a huge moment to see it hit the net,” he concluded.

Chelsea now open their Champions League campaign on Tuesday as they take on Bayer Leverkusen at Stamford Bridge.