We’re the dominant partner now, Chelsea

OBVIOUSLY I would’ve enjoyed Sunday’s aperitif from Anfield a little more if Man Utd had shipped some points, as this was one of the few fixtures where one might’ve expected them to slip up.

Nevertheless Fergie’s side probably did us a favour. With Utd having leapfrogged us briefly, it meant that when we kicked off against the Blues half an hour later, there were no ifs and buts, we simply had to win, if we weren’t going to gift our rivals a massive psychological advantage.

In the past couple of seasons we’ve suffered from a slight inferiority complex in our encounters with Mourinho’s mob, whereby we’ve been far too happy to settle for merely avoiding defeat. Consequently perhaps the most pleasing aspect to Sunday’s win was that even though Almunia might have been the busier of the two keepers, and despite the fact that I spent much of the second half cutting off the circulation in Rona’s hand, every time the Blues poured forward in search of an equaliser, there was no mistaking the sense of a role reversal.