(CNN) -- Fernando Torres finally ended his goal drought on Saturday as second-placed Chelsea won to boost the club's hopes of retaining the English Premier League title.
The Spain World Cup winner had gone 13 matches without scoring since his $80 million move from Liverpool at the end of January, but netted the London team's second after coming on as a substitute in the 3-0 victory over bottom side West Ham.
On top of that Chelsea streak, he had also failed to score in his last match for Liverpool and an international for his country in March.
The striker was mobbed on the sodden pitch by his relieved teammates, including Didier Drogba -- who lost his regular starting place after the 27-year-old's arrival in a record fee between British clubs.
"I kept working and it's thanks to all my teammates that I scored. There's less pressure for me now, now I can enjoy it," Torres said.
"The fans have been very patient with me. I had more and more anxiety for them than for me. Hopefully this is the first of many."
The victory helped Chelsea reign in leaders Manchester United, who had moved nine points clear with a 1-0 win over Everton in the opening game of the day.
United know that victory in their next two Premier League fixtures against third-placed Arsenal on May 1 and Chelsea on May 8 should clinch a record 19th title.
Those games come either side of the Champions League semifinal ties with Schalke, the first being in Germany on Tuesday.
Arsenal can also close to within six points again by beating Bolton on Sunday, after which the top three teams will all have four matches left.
Chelsea's European involvement was ended by United in the quarterfinals, and since then Torres has been relegated to the bench by coach Carlo Ancelotti while Drogba has helped reignite the club's championship hopes.
In a match played in pouring rain after Britain's recent spell of fine weather broke, man of the match Drogba was instrumental in setting up Chelsea's opening goal a minute before halftime.
The Ivory Coast forward's neat pass helped fullback Ashley Cole burst down the left and cut back a perfect cross for his England teammate Frank Lampard to lash into the net.
With conditions making defending difficult, both teams squandered chances before Chelsea defender David Luiz crashed an effort off the crossbar.
Torres replaced Drogba in the 76th minute, and he ended his miserable run eight minutes later with a composed left-foot shot after pivoting when the ball got stuck in a puddle.
France winger Florent Malouda settled the match in the third minute of time added on with his 13th league goal this season.
