didn't see the game yesterday but every game I have seen this season he has not been far away from flawless. He's shown great character and determination to come back from being a boo boy, or at least regarded as something of a liability, to being a defensive lynchpin. This has been the second or third time he's come through a really, really torrid time when it looked like his confidence was totally shot to look not just decent but truly outstanding - no exaggeration. I think we'd have lost the Sunderland game without him and that would have made the outlook and atmosphere very different yesterday.

A real question now of what happens when Branthwaite is fit again, but that is some way off. I still think the most solid we have looked at the back in recent times has been with the JT/JB combo - but things change - it's now Tarkowski who looks the weaker link. A remarkable turnaround.

I thought we'd have been better off letting him go in the summer and bringing in a younger replacement, so glad we didn't now.