Swans boss Brendan Rodgers believes that Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard still have plenty to offer and are the ones to watch on Saturday.
Like current boss Andre Villas-Boas, Rodgers, worked for Chelsea when Jose Mourinho was in charge at the Bridge. He started out managing the youth team before stepping to reserve team manager.
Despite Torres’ start to life at Chelsea. The Swan boss said: “He is a class player, I remember going to watch him for Atletico Madrid, they were playing Barcelona at the Nou Camp,” Rodgers said of Torres.
“He was captain of Atletico Madrid and they won 3-1, he was fantastic and scored two goals. He was such a talent and at that point in time he was a real catalyst for Atletico.
“He has had a tough time with injuries, he is adapting to a new team, but there is no hiding the fact that he is a world class striker and he will return to that form.”
And when it came to Lampard he said:
“Lampard will be like Javier Zanetti at Inter Milan because he looks after himself and has a hunger. At a certain age people write players like him and John Terry off, but it’s wrong to write off players like that.”
Before concluding: “That’s why I know Saturday will be very tough for us as they are players who will never lie down.”
During Rodgers’ time at Reading and Watford, he regularly spoke about his friendship with Jose and even hired Frank Lampard Senior during his time at the latter.
By Scott Balaam
Twitter @AStamBridge2Far