TJB

This decision is for the best. It doesn't matter what he does, people will slate him anyway and no appeal, regardless of the outcome, would change most people's mind about him. And also, at least now we have a few months until the next handshake "will they/won't they??" bs. I also must say, the wording of his statement, and Chelsea's, is absolutely perfect. One thing we can say about this, we've handled it a hell of a lot better than the Scousers did, and all at Chelsea (bar Cole's understandable but stupid tweet) have conducted themselves with far more dignity throughout than the Ferdinands, the media and people like Clarke Carlisle. Now, bring on the Spuds

Joe Hart cost me 100 quid today, the bar steward. I had England, Holland, Switzerland & Norway backed at 10/1 to all win away. The other 3 did the business and I was so close to the win. I don't normally gamble, but I thought they were pretty good odds for it and worth backing.

I was expecting the topic title to be followed by "must be depressing". Still, wasn't far wrong.

I have only one question...where do I get the cardboard cut-out of her???

Suarez has nobody but himself to blame for the negative press he gets. If he stops diving, or falling over at the slightest touch, nobody will call him a diver and he may get some sympathy from people if a situation comes about where refs aren't giving him penalties when he has been fouled. Btw, in spite of Rodgers and Gerrard and others saying otherwise, I don't think he is being treated unfairly by refs. Any of these penalty claims of his weren't penalties. The one at Sunderland wasn't, the one against United wasn't and the one last weekend sure as f**k wasn't. And another reason why he has no-one but himself to blame is the Evra thing, specifically the game at OT where he didn't shake his hand. At that point he'd served his ban and there was a chance for him and everyone else to just put it to bed and he went and stirred it all up again. Zola put it perfectly above, he's made his bed and now has to lay in it.

What did he apologise for? There was absolutely nothing wrong with what he wrote. So what if he swore? Anyone who was "offended" by it obviously have no life worth talking about and have far bigger issues to be worried about than a footballer using a swear word on twitter.

Not sure about player of the month, but on SSN they were talking about the candidates for manager of the month. RDM, Clarke & Moyes were all mentioned.

It's a real pity there's an international break before this. There's always a fecking break just as we're starting to get going. I just hope all the lads come back fit. While it's only 1 game, the media onslaught if AVB got a win over us would be nigh on unbearable. Spur's fans and players are gonna be fired up for this, and we need to be too. We need to turn that place back into 3 point lane again. Someone mentioned above it's 2005 since we won there. Not the way it should be. As for how we set up, while we obviously must respect their attacking options, we should be looking to dictate the tempo of this game. Spurs should be the ones worrying about OUR attacking options and be thinking about how they set up to stop us. I'm gonna be nervous heading into this, but quietly confident of getting the win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPhnD-qmktU I don't think it's that big a deal tbh. It's a pity Huth didn't really go for it. I normally don't advocate violence on a football pitch but in Suarez's case I'll make an exception.

I'd have found it hard to not "accidentally" stand on his hand.

Anyone else see the incident where Vaz Te got injured? I think because of his injury people will overlook what was a very dangerous thing to do. He left his foot in and caught the keeper in the head. I know there wasn't much contact and the keeper is fine, but it was eerily similar to what happened to Cech. Like Hunt, he had ample time to jump out of the way to avoid contact but chose not to. Normally I'm all for physicality in the game, but in situations like that, where the keeper is sliding out to collect the ball on the ground, they are incredibly vulnerable and reckless challenges on them can lead to serious injuries. Rant over. Carzola got a cracking goal, I have to say.

Looking forward to getting on with the football again. We're in good form, they're not. And they're conceding a lot of goals. Even Liverpool managed to put 5 past them. So it bodes well for us. If we go about it properly and play as we can, we should win comfortably. My prediction: 3-0.

I think Nordsjaelland surprised everyone with how comfortable they were on the ball, and 4-0 probably isn't a fair reflection of the game. But the superior quality of our players shone through and it's a very good result- 3 points and a healthy goal difference boost (if it were to come down to that).

Drogba-esque from Luiz.

Thank fcuk. Should settle us down now.

What is Luiz at with those long passes? Is he trying to be Stevie Me or something? You have to admire the way Nordsjaelland are playing. Completely without fear. But their bravery has led to 2 big mistakes which almost led to goals.

Like most here I think superstitions are stupid but still have 1. I can't wear any Chelsea shirts, hats, scarves or anything related to Chelsea when watching them on the tv. When I'm at a game it's no problem, I can wear what I want. But I just have it in my head that I can't wear a shirt when I'm watching the game on tv. Defeats had nothing to do with player performances, or manger decisions or ref decisions. It was all down to what I was wearing Stupid, I know, but I'll continue doing it.

Feeling conflicted. I love seeing QPR getting beat, but I hate seeing West Ham doing well, even more so with Allardyce in charge. QPR's next 3 games are West Brom away, Everton home and Arsenal away. Things aren't gonna get any better for them. Doesn't it just break your heart

My choice would be Terry & Cahill, but it's marginal really. Any combination is a good pairing in my opinion. There's always the doubt about Luiz and what he will do but he is cutting a lot of the craziness out of his game. There's a vast improvement between now and when he joined. Ivanovic is another option, but I think RB is his best position. He's never really been convincing at CB since he joined us, I think anyway.

How many times can I mention squeaky bum time in a 90 minute period? Good finish. The defending is sh*te but it's entertaining.

Oh my. Good response from Spurs. Squeaky bum time cancelled.

Well I would imagine before the season that Fergie thought Ferdinand, Vidic, Jones, Smalling & Evans would be enough at CB, as well as being able to cover the full back positions. As for RVP, I think it was a good purchase. They didn't really need him, but he improves them and will score a lot of goals. Plus Hernandez & Wellbeck will provide good cover. But at the end of it all you hit the nail on the head. Any problem for United is good for us. Nani just pulled it back to 2-1. Squeaky bum time for Spurs?

I agree with you to a point. They are suffering from injuries to a lot of defenders at the minute. The only senior CBs fit are on the pitch. But saying that I would question the quality of their defenders. Vidic when fit is world class. But the rest? Either unproven, past it (Rio and maye Evra) or somewhat eccentric and hot headed in the case of Rafael. Spurs have been miles better and should see this out, but with United anything is possible.

Spurs looking good here, but United always seem to come back against Spurs at Old Trafford, usually with the help of the ref. Oh look Chris Foy is reffing. We all know how good he is

I always get a deep sense of satisfaction when we beat Arsenal. Especially because Wenger can never bring himself to admit Chelsea were the better side. On a whole it was a good performance and worthy of the win. We were comfortable in the 1st half up to their goal. It was a disappointing goal to concede considering how much space we let Gervinho have in the box. Torres took his goal well and caused them problems all day. Ramires showed, again, beyond any doubt his best place in the team is in the middle and not out wide. There's still some rough edges to the team and that's to be expected. A lot of new players trying to gel and a manager who's only been in charge 6 months or so. Things are looking pretty good and will get even better in the future.