I’m back from my leave of absence and to get things rolling though here’s confirmation of Chelsea’s appeal against John Terry’s dismissal against City.

No surprise here. There aren’t many Chelsea sympathisers around, for one reason or another, but despite this, the huge weight of opinion appears to be against referee Mark Halsey’s decision. Sadly for Chelsea, opinion also appears to be unanimous on the chances of the success of this appeal. Namely a big fat zero.

Right now, Terry faces a three match ban with his offence being classified as “serious foul play”, rather than “denying a goal or an obvious goal scoring opportunity” by ref Halsey. That means that Chelsea’s argument that Terry was not the last man when he challenged City’s Jo, is entirely irrelevant. In addition, FA rules state that straight red cards cannot be downgraded to a yellow, so Chelsea have to argue that Terry didn’t deserve a yellow card. Good luck with that one.

It will mean that Terry is almost certain sit out of the games against United, the Carling Cup tie at Portsmouth and the Premiership trip to Stoke. Alex seems set to deputise and could be a consideration in fantasy terms, although Terry’s absence will surely have a major influence on the solidity of the Chelsea rearguard. That will be food for thought for all those fantasy managers currently lining up with Cech and members of his defence. United’s attack and Stoke’s long balls aren’t the kind of tests that Chelsea will relish facing without Terry.