A blog of two halves

A cold, windy and potentially fractious outing awaits Chelsea fans on Monday as they travel to that lonely outpost, the grandly, blandly titled London Stadium, to face West Ham.

The mouth-watering prospect of an FA Cup quarter-final fixture against the Once-Special One at the Bridge can wait.

So we beat Hull, drew with the Scousers, thrashed the Gooners then took a point at Burnley.

While football writers salivate over Eden Hazard’s goal-scoring wizardry, the distillation process that determines who should eventually be dubbed Chelsea’s player of the year is already underway.

While Chelsea´s hopes of regaining the league title and, with it, the fun of floodlit European nights at the Bridge do not entirely hinge on the weekend´s match against Arsenal, it will still be a key pointer to the destination of the trophy.

The games come thick and fast for the Blues, with the weekend’s west London FA Cup derby against Brentford immediately followed by two matches with a massive influence on who wins the league title.

The love affair between Tony Conte and Chelsea’s blue army rolls on with fresh intensity after the manager’s impressive handling of the uncertainty over striker Diego Costa’s future.

It may be the rarest of west London derbies, but Chelsea’s reward for beating Peterborough in the FA Cup is a home tie against neighbours Brentford.

There will be a carnival atmosphere at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

John Terry, who has captained Chelsea for 12 years, is weighing up his future.