But following West Ham can feel like some sort of penance for previous sins.

It was like that on Saturday watching Frank Lampard celebrating his obligatory opening goal at a morgue-like Upton Park.

My backside was already frozen to the cheap plastic seats while the boys behind were babbling nonsense after too much fighting lager before kick-off.

The wind was whipping through the old ground and Sam Allardyce must have felt the chill of icy stares from the directors box as ninety minutes passed without a shot on goal by the home team.

When you lose hope as a supporter match days can be a pretty grim time.

Yet again West Ham lined up without a striker in a 4-6-0 formation which flummoxed Spurs first time we tried it but has rather lost the element of surprise now.

Now Chelsea have got a fantastic squad.

But teams that have had a go at them and tried to turn John Terry and Gary Cahill at the heart of their defence have had a bit of joy.

Instead Big Sam decided to play Kevin Nolan as his most advanced “attacker”.

Terry is hardly quick these days but Nolan makes him look like Billy Whizz.

As soon as Chelsea went one-up you could feel any sense of hope drain out of a crowd who all know we just can’t score playing that formation against a decent team.

I’ll be back this weekend of course when the Fulham match is a real six pointer.

Allardyce will spark a proper East End riot if he dares to start without a forward against our fellow strugglers.

But I wouldn’t put it past him – a lack of self confidence is certainly not one of his faults.

The one thing that warmed me up was seeing last week’s double come in with Newcastle beating Norwich and Man City humiliating Spurs.

Let’s have a crack at a treble this weekend and I like the look of Aston Villa to beat Sunderland and Everton to beat Stoke while a resurgent Man Utd can take care of Spurs at White Hart Lane.

That little combination pays a shade over 15/2 and will hopefully keep me sane whatever happens with West Ham.

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Running Total for all bets this season to a £10 stake: £-48.00