Fernando Torres Injury: Updates on Chelsea Star's Knee and Return

Updates from Tuesday, Feb. 11

Fernando Torres returned to action on Tuesday as he appeared as a second half substitute vs. West Brom:

Updates from Monday, Feb. 10

Chelsea provides a statement from Jose Mourinho discussing Fernando Torres' injury status:

Updates from Friday, Jan. 31

Fernando Torres, who scored the winner against Manchester City earlier in the season, will not return for Chelsea's trip to the Etihad.

The club's official Twitter feed reports:

Updates from Tuesday, Jan. 28

Jose Mourinho has delivered an update on the fitness of Fernando Torres, expecting him to return by mid-February.

Chelsea's official Twitter feed noted:

Updates from Friday, Jan. 24

Fernando Torres will miss up to one month with a knee injury, Jose Mourinho confirmed on Friday.

Chelsea's official Twitter feed noted:

According to InsideFutbol.com, Torres won't require surgery:

Chelsea forward Fernando Torres is set for a minimum three-week absence from this point on, but will not require surgery on the knee injure suffered last weekend

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Chelsea star striker Fernando Torres injured his knee during the Blues' 3-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday, Jan. 19, and the 29-year-old faces a few weeks on the sidelines because of it.

Craig Hope of the Daily Mail reports that Torres entered the match at Stamford Bridge in place of Samuel Eto'o—whose hat-trick accounted for all three Blues goals—in the 79th minute. Before the match was over, Torres limped off the pitch for medical attention.   

The club's official Twitter account confirmed that Torres had suffered ligament damage, citing manager Jose Mourinho as the source:

Will Carroll of Bleacher Report had some insight on the injury and a recovery timeline for Torres:

Mourinho said that Demba Ba will fill in for Torres on the Chelsea attack, per Hope.

"It's time for Demba. It's a pity because Nando (Torres) is in a good moment, but it's time for Demba," said Mourinho.

He added, "Demba had a fantastic week; (it was) very difficult for me to leave him out of selection because he worked very, very well. Next matches are for Demba or Samuel. Let's go."

It will be interesting to see if Ba provides a spark, since he has not performed very well since transferring from Newcastle United. Torres had scored four goals in 16 total appearances with 11 starts this season, per FoxSports.com.

The good news out of this ominous development is that Chelsea got the three points and took care of business at home to push their total to 49 points for the 2013-14 English Premier League campaign. They trail only Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings.