There are so many reasons to be cheerful right now, it is hard to know where to begin. Yes, the fact that the COVID-19 vaccine is finally being rolled out is good news, but I was thinking more about the football.Chelsea getting on top of the Premier League table on Saturday night was a great lift, but doing it against Leeds United, after being 1-0 down, that was nearly the cherry on the top of the cake. The actual cherry, as well as a big dollop of cream, was having some of the fans inside Stamford Bridge to witness the moment.It was so clear to see and hear just how much those lucky few fans had missed seeing the team, and the players and the staff felt exactly the same about them. Frank Lampard’s reaction at the final whistle made that pretty obvious. The Chelsea fans who were there provided the funniest and I would argue the best moments of the weekend in football.

I have been droning on since the beginning of Project Restart about the squealing from some players. It can now be more clearly heard because the stadiums have been so cavernously empty. In fact, it became the best reason when watching on TV to switch over to the fake fan noise channel.I couldn’t do that at the games when I was co-commentating. So I had to put up with those blood-curdling screams of feigned pain when some of the players were struck by nothing more than a strong gust of wind. It was, quite simply, grotesque.Cue the Chelsea fans to the rescue. When Leeds substitute Diego Llorente made a noise so high-pitched that it caused mayhem all the way over in Battersea Dogs’ Home, the Blues supporters weren’t having it. For the rest of the game, they reminded him of his screeching every time he touched the ball. There are a hundred reasons why I want the fans back in the stadiums, but that humour is right up there with my favourites. To be fair, there are many players up to those tricks at the moment. Happily the fans will start to police that. Well they will at the Bridge anyway.

Maybe the fact so many people had re-watched the highlights of the famous Chelsea v Leeds battle in the 1970 FA Cup final had something to do with it. We do not necessarily want to go back to the days of common assault on the football field, but when your big, hard centre-back behaves like that, then the fans will let you know it has gone too far. I mean, what would Chopper think, or indeed the much-missed Jack Charlton, what would he have made of it?On top of that fun from the fans, the constant singing from those 2000 was also fabulous. What an atmosphere they managed to create and clearly it helped the players come back from that early deficit.The phenomenal week Olivier Giroud has had contains another bunch of reasons to be cheerful. Just a few weeks ago I had people asking me whether Olivier would stay with the club after the January window. This question is asked before nearly every January window to be fair, but I think we all know what the answer is after his five-goal haul in four days. His form is astonishing and after wondering for a while how he was going to get enough game time, the question is suddenly reversed, because he is so important to the cause. How do we now make sure he is not overused?

I did some analysis on him before the Sevilla game. I have talked for many years, without embarrassment and even when he was at Arsenal, about him being the best near-post striker in the world. Well, the hat-trick goal against Sevilla and the first goal versus Leeds just underlined this point for about the 100th time.

Tonight, we have the Russian side Krasnodar visiting in the Champions League group stage that we have already won, in front of some more fans and those are the reasons to be cheerful part three. We are through, as group winners of course, we are scoring and making chances for fun and frankly, Frank can pick whatever side he chooses for this one.Actually, I am sure I have said that somewhere before. Yes, that’s it, I remember - last week on this page!I typed out a team that had 11 changes from the Spurs game and suggested that would be good enough to beat most teams domestically and in Europe. Frank put out almost precisely the same outfield starting team I suggested in Seville the next night, with Mateo Kovacic for Billy Gilmour the only change from my original idea. I am not suggesting the boss is looking to this column for ideas, but boy that team was certainly good enough.The only flies in what is some very smooth-looking ointment were the injuries to Hakim Ziyech and Thiago Silva in the Leeds game, and the one to Callum Hudson-Odoi in training since. Hopefully none will be long-term absentees but Christian Pulisic coming on for Hakim against Leeds and then scoring isn’t a bad option to have. Thiago Silva looked to be unable to move for those last five minutes but somehow he managed to soldier on through to the end. We had no substitutions left, so he had no choice. I really wouldn’t want him missing for too many of the big games coming up, but a rest may be needed.

So, I am not going to even try to guess tonight’s team, but the positive side is that whatever it is, it will be strong and it will have goals in it. We seem to have goal threats from all over pitch just now as well as from the subs bench too.We know the attitude will be good and the chances will flow, but I just hope some of those chances fall to Timo Werner or Tammy Abraham this time. We are the top scorers in the Premier League but amazingly our individual top league scorer is Timo with just three, way behind Calvert Lewin with 11, Son 10 and then Salah and Vardy on nine. Timo has eight goals in all competitions, so it is still an exceptional start. But for all that spreading the goals around is a good thing, we will eventually need someone who is up there with the top scorers in the league if we are going to be competitive all the way through to May. A boost tonight for Tammy and Timo would be no bad thing.