Grant happy with Anelka's lively Chelsea debut

By Clare Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea manager Avram Grant was delighted with the impact made by Nicolas Anelka after his new signing produced a lively appearance as a substitute in Saturday's 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

Anelka, bought from Bolton Wanderers for 15 million pounds on Friday, replaced Claudio Pizarro in the 58th minute and inside 60 seconds forced a smart, low save from goalkeeper Radek Cerny.

The France striker linked up play well and also shot against the crossbar in the closing minutes.

"We could not have asked for more from him," Grant told reporters. "We had not planned to use him because he had not trained with us but Pizarro got injured."

Grant was happy to have Anelka on the bench with fellow strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou away on African Nations Cup duty and Andriy Shevchenko out injured.

It was Brazil full back Juliano Belletti, with a 35-metre scorcher, and midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips who supplied the goals as the Stamford Bridge club took their remarkable unbeaten run to 74 home league matches.

Third-placed Chelsea have lost twice in 25 games, with 18 victories, in all competitions under Grant since he took over from Jose Mourinho in September.

The Israeli was especially pleased with the way his side were winning. "We are keeping our style of play even without many injured players," said the manager.