Cast your mind to a few hours ago. Most of us were praying for a snow day. Chelsea had a missing list consisting of Ashley Cole, John Terry, John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard, Ramires, Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba. They were forced to field a bench consisting almost entirely of toddlers. And they were facing the defending champions. Things looked ugly.

And yet we came away with a point - and I'd argue we very much deserved to get all three. Some quick (positive) thoughts in lieu of a full match report (we'll do that one later):

• Michael Essien's back, and was superb for most of the game.
• Juan Mata's goal was pretty much the best thing ever.
• Jose Bosingwa answered his critics with an absolutely sterling display at left back.
• Gary Cahill had an excellent debut, making me look silly.
• We scored three goals against Manchester United.
• The 4-2-3-1 worked pretty nicely.
• David Luiz is a hero.

Yeah, it's disappointing that we went from 3-0 up to a 3-3 full time, but even then it took a pair of great saves by David de Gea and a blown chance from Raul Meireles to keep it level. It's a good result, and by and large it was a good performance. It just didn't work out. I'm still pleased with the team today.