Stottie

Comedy gerld. Brighton equalize.

It would be given as a push on Dunk if he was playing for us.

England's Lewis Dunk with his best Cacapa impression.

It's not even on live in Japan. They've been showing the J League, so the broadcast is about to start now one hour behind.

Not bad. If the ultimate plan is Rondon off Perez, I'd start with that and bring on Muto in either forward position depending on what happens. We competed with Spurs, should have beaten Cardiff and weren't far off getting something against Chelsea, so I hope confidence has not been shaken by the results and our current league position.

That was also after he'd clearly been more interested in playing for England, however fit, than he was in playing for us. He topped it all by bringing out that effing brochure and telling the world he had no fitness issues. I'm sorry but there is far too much water under the bridge for him to get any sympathy for sob stories. He never gave a monkey's at the time.

Just saying but the dodgy penalty came during one of Chelsea's few counter attacks of the game. They were far less effective when camped out in our half.

I would bet that "0.8 expected goals (+ 1 penalty)" is the least any team with 70%+ possession has ever created in a game where the score was level for so long. It is the same as we managed against Cardiff, thirty minutes of which was with 10 men. People are heaping praise on Jorginho, but all he did was recycle the ball. Hazard floated about impressively but Chelsea had no penetration. For this approach to work against Man City, we will need them to miss multiple good chances, something Chelsea did not do because they didn't create any.

I'm tempted to notch it up one after more off-field misery, but the new CHs looked fine and there was the spirit to battle well, so I'll stick at 3. It's going to be just as grim as last season though, so I should really stop watching and do something more productive.

Mitro had more attempts per game than any other player at the WC. 15 in three games, for one goal. So far he's on 15 in three games for Fulham, for three goals. Averaging five attempts a game is Kane/Aguero level, way beyond a decent PL striker. So he must be doing a lot right. He's also getting a lot of supply, which he wouldn't here. His three Fulham goals have been from a combined distance of about twelve yards. You would expect anyone to score them. My lasting memories of Mitro playing for us aren't so much missing chances but of really shit attempts at playing the dark arts. With three red cards in less than PL 2500 minutes, his cards were also marked as an easy player to send off. I suspect the last one when he came on as sub was the last straw for Rafa. Maybe it helps that Mitro's now at a nice middle class club with a reputation for pretty football whose lads can't be "that type of player". No neutral is going to admit they screamed "red card" every time Mitro went near the ball for us.

I've got a Japanese commentary on and all they said was "they have VAR in Spain but not in the Premier League".

Bent ref

Nice shot by Rudiger, but that's not on target.

They're mad for leaving Kante on and not playing Willian or another attacker.

Not bad. Park the bus, of course, but its going well. I'm still watching and didn't expect to be. 1 am here. Wish we would aim a set piece at Schar instead of the knock it back at the far post routine.

You won't say that when you see the two Mitro goals today. Both Champo defending.

On the positive front, it might be good to get this out now before a difficult game than one where it is vital to get three points off a relegation rival. That's assuming lessons can be learnt and bridges rebuilt, and this is not the start of a slide.

I was quite hopeful an hour ago, but this now sounds nightmarish. Hope the fans direct any anger in the proper direction.

Yeah, no Shelvey or Lascelles. Ah well, good luck to them. It's a big ask.

Chelsea looked vulnerable against Arsenal, more than West Ham did yesterday, so I wouldn't write this off completely. We'll have to be organised, but we usually are under Benitez. Kante is one of their best players, but I don't think he's as good further up the pitch. For us, I hope its Murphy or Muto and not Atsu on the left. Rondon must have been acquired as a starter, so I hope he's ready now. No minutes last week might delay it again though.

Cardiff fail to beat a 10-man lower half team for two weeks running.

I think we'll be fine, but the Cardiff game was poor, in terms of what we did and the limited extent of what we attempted. The match was very badly refereed right from the start, which is annoying for an early season game when you are trying to gauge how the team will get on during the season.

Had Arter tripped him, it would be yellow for cynically stopping a break. Having a full swing at knee height bumps it up to a red for me.

So does the ref get a bollocking for seeing it but not awarding a card to go with the free kick? It is obvious violent conduct.