Is Fernando Torres finally ready to prove his worth at Chelsea?

This was the European champions' fourth loss of a stuttering pre-season, their defence too often vulnerable where only recently it had been a source of strength, but the captain could cling to one positive. Early indications are that Torres is ready to make his mark at last.

It would be tempting to insist that, for a player who cost a British record £50m and is a World Cup winner and twice a European champion with Spain, evidence of his undoubted pedigree is long overdue. Just as simplistic would be to suggest the flashes of quality demonstrated here, culminating in a cutely taken finish beyond Costel Pantilimon which earned Chelsea a brief lead, should be considered proof all will be well in the months ahead. But such is the urgent desire at Stamford Bridge for Torres to succeed, as he once did for Liverpool, that seeing him with confidence so clearly bolstered is seized upon as reason for relief, Kazinform quotes the Guardian.

This has to be Torres's year. The striker has been too peripheral throughout his time in London, shrunk in the shadow of Didier Drogba, with those in the dug-out and the stands alike waiting for him to stir. There have been occasions when he has flourished - a hat-trick against Queens Park Rangers, or that jaw-dropping denouement at the Camp Nou - but there has been little positive consistency to his form. Successive Chelsea managers have praised his contribution on the basis of assists rather than goals accumulated. He was bought as a scorer, not a provider, and seven Premier League goals in 46 appearances tells its own story.

Now the environment feels more favourable, his importance to this team very obvious. He returned to Cobham after an extended break with Drogba departed for China and as an unlikely golden boot winner from Euro 2012. This was his first 90 minutes of pre-season and, where he had looked so rusty in the defeat at Brighton eight days previously, some of the gliding menace of old seemed restored against City. The goal, pilfered with his left, was converted in a blur. So flustered was Stefan Savic that the defender was hauled off at the interval.

Admittedly, an ability to unsettle the Montenegrin hardly serves as confirmation the forward is back to his best - Vincent Kompany was less unnerved by his presence - but Torres, too, will sharpen his match fitness in the weeks to come.

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