Torres Doubtful For Sunday Opener Against Stoke

Bad luck, fate, call it what you want, but Fernando Torres must be thinking the footballing gods are against him right now.

Just when he was starting to show a little of his form from his days at Liverpool, Torres has picked up a slight bout of concussion while on International duty with Spain. He is now a major doubt for the Premier League opener at Stoke City on Sunday.

Torres started the friendly international for Spain against Italy, but was taken off after a clash of heads early in the game. He was taken to a local hospital, but he had recovered sufficiently enough to rejoin his team-mates after the game on Wednesday evening.

Torres has scored just one goal in 18 competitive fixtures since his arrival from Liverpool earlier in the year, and his absence will be a big blow to manager Andre-Villas Boas. But one players loss is another ones gain and it will be interesting to see who plays up front if Torres is unable to take his place in the starting XI, that is of course assuming he was going to start anyway! AVB’s team selection may just have been made slightly easier.