West Bromwich Albion boss Roy Hodgson has paid tribute to Chelsea striker Fernando Torres.
Hodgson worked with Torres during his ill-fated six-month stint in charge of Liverpool and, although the Spain marksman has struggled over the last year or so, the Baggies boss has no doubt he will come good.
"I am very glad for him that he appears to be showing some of his old form," Hodgson said ahead of Saturday evening's Barclays Premier League game at Stamford Bridge.
"Torres, in the form he is capable of showing, is capable of causing a lot of problems for my defence.
"But I am particularly pleased for him. I enjoyed my time working with him. It was not a good time for him. But these things happen at football clubs.
"I do not know what he would say, but so far as I am concerned I have a lot of time for him and a lot of respect for him.
"If he is now getting back to his top form for Chelsea, as I knew he would, then I am very pleased for him.
"He is a good fellow. A serious professional. I was unlucky that I caught him, and a few other players, on the back of a World Cup, and in his case an unsuccessful World Cup.
"Under me, he had serious injury problems. His wife was having a baby at the time as well, which was an important point in his life.
"If you take that very short period we worked together, there were things going on in his life which had little to do with football and which I could not control.
"I never doubted him as a person or as a player. It was bold of Chelsea to pay a big transfer fee for him when the consensus was that he wasn't at his best.
"But I always believed that it was a move which would pay dividends because he is a top-quality player - and I fear that I will see that at close hand on Saturday!"
He quipped: "I only hope that he takes pity on me and has a bad game out of sympathy with our plight!"
