All quiet on the west London front

IT used to be that you could always rely on Chelsea to spice up those vacant weeks when the international programme lays a dead and frosty hand across football.

A 900-word column to fill? Simple. Get Peter Kenyon, and José to tap up Arsenal and England’s full back in the most public way possible in a busy hotel at Lancaster Gate.

Another quiet Wednesday? Let’s check up whose youth system Chelsea are pillaging this week. That can be relied upon to create howls of outrage, with a delicious side-helping of a potential transfer ban.