The Swansea City vice captain will line up against his former manager and team mate tonight backed by a huge army of travelling Swansea supporters.
All 4,490 tickets allocated to the Swans for the game have been sold out and with the Roberto factor coming into play, it promises to be a noisy night at the DW Stadium this evening.
Speaking to the Western Mail, Tate said โRobertoโs going to get stick, thereโs no point beating around the bush, off some fans who feel very let down by him.
โThe thing that let him down was when he said he was forced out as a player and would have to be forced out as a manager. At the end of the day he was not forced out as a manager.
โBut Roberto realises that and I donโt think anything thatโs going to happen will be something he doesnโt expect.
โItโs something that he is going to have to deal with and I am sure he will.
โWe always have good away support, but this one is going to be something special for the fans because what happened with Roberto is something that still riles them.
โItโs definitely one I want to win for the fans.
โI played alongside Roberto and then under him as a manager and I will always have that respect I had for him when he was captain.
โVery rarely will I say a bad word about him.
โBut what heโs done is done and weโve moved on.
โIโve learnt that managers come and go and I will be happy at Swansea City, regardless of who the manager is.
โYou only have to look at the players and managers who have come and gone, the grass is not greener.
โIโve always said itโs the club I love playing for.
โProbably the biggest compliment you can pay the players, is how we have kept it going when Roberto left,โ added Swanseaโs vice-captain Tate.
โThe lads did better for Paulo than he did for the lads.
โNow the new gafferโs come in and he is doing as much for us as we are for him and he is probably very happy with the players heโs got.
โWe are now doing a lot better day-to-day, but itโs a tough ask against a Premiership team.
โThey will be strong favourites being where they are, but weโve got nothing to lose.
โWe can go out there and enjoy ourselves. Everyone is there to be beaten.โ