Torres could be left out for season opener, but who would you pick?

The media just can’t seem to let go of their tedious obsession with Fernando Torres’ Chelsea career and The Mirror’s Martin Lipton claims that the Spaniard will be dropped for the season opener against Stoke after his misfiring displays in preseason.

Lipton suggests that Didier Drogba will be given the nod ahead of Torres for that game, which he may well do considering Stoke’s physical threat, but it is just so boring to hear hacks stick the boot into the same player at every opportunity.

Sure, Torres only scored the one goal so far during the preseason but so did Didier Drogba, unless you count his free kick/own goal/never crossed the line effort against a Malaysia XI. It could be argued that the Ivorian had the better preseason, Lipton makes something of a hyperbole by saying it was ‘far more impressive’. If Villas-Boas decided to field Drogba then it’s for tactical reasons, not because he thinks Torres is the next Andriy Shevchenko.

There’s still one more preseason game for Chelsea to play, which is against Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox tomorrow and kicks off at 3pm, so Villas-Boas probably hasn’t made his final decision about who will play against Stoke next week.

But as the squad is now, which XI would you pick to play Stoke next Sunday?

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