That was some 12 months, wasn't it? I think it is worth saying that - writing it, even - at the start of a new year that begins with such promise.

The visit of Brentford to Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday is the first of three games in a week that will be a bellwether for the second half of the season. Take six points from the Premier League matches against the Bees and lowly Wolves and Everton will be within touching distance of the top four.

Overcome Sunderland next weekend and the fourth round of the FA Cup beckons - a competition it makes sense for the Blues to genuinely pursue given this, for the first year in five, will not be a January fraught with fear for the survival of the club's top-flight status. None of those games will be easy, particularly given the parlous state of David Moyes' squad right now. All are winnable, though.

I wrote in my last...