Essien lauds Luiz

Michael Essien was full of praise for David Luiz after seeing the Brazilian help Chelsea past Manchester City.

The classy centre-half, who was snapped by the Blues for €25million during the January transfer window, put in another eye-catching performance at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

He remained unflustered throughout at the heart of the back four and grabbed the crucial opening goal in a 2-0 win.

Luiz has now notched against both Manchester giants, having also scored against United, and Essien has been quick to hail the speed at which the Samba star has adjusted to life in England.

"As you can see he's been fantastic for us since he came here," the Ghanaian midfielder told Sky Sports.

"We need his type of player at Chelsea. He's done a great job for us."

Victory over City helped Chelsea clamber back into third place in the Premier League table.

They are now nine points adrift of leaders Manchester United with a game in hand and Essien admits the title race is still wide open.

"We take every game as it comes, we'll work hard in every game and see what happens," he said.

"We'll see. We'll have to keep believing that we can do it. There's a long way to go. We have to fight for every point."

He added: "But it was a very important win for us. It was a difficult game for us, we gave everything to get the three points.

"It was a very tight game."