The Spain striker's debut against former club Liverpool was hardly a resounding success, with a 1-0 defeat compounded by a disappointing day for an attacking three of Didier Drogba, Torres and Nicolas Anelka, who played behind the front two. Anelka, in particular, struggled to make an impact from his new, deeper position, but Ancelotti is expected to give the trio another chance to gel at Fulham.
There are times when Chelsea will also revert to a lone centre forward with support from both flanks, but the Italian is sure his players have enough quality to make either formation work.
"Now we have a strong squad with David Luiz and Torres. We've improved our ability and we have more power," Ancelotti told the club's official website.
"The squad was good, but now it is even better. In attack we can choose whether to play with two up front or with the Christmas tree, it depends on the game that we want to play. When we play with two strikers Nicolas Anelka can be in the number 10 position, in the hole, but with one striker he can play on the right.
"Florent Malouda can also play there, and we tried last year having Frank Lampard there at the beginning of the season which was not bad. Malouda can also play in the Christmas tree, but I don't need to think of him as a central midfielder because we have a lot of options there."
Source: PA
Source: PA