Hot Weather In London Not To Harper's Liking!

Steve Harper: "It's all about momentum for us now - we want to take something into next season.

"The last seven games have gone well for us - four wins and three draws and we're unbeaten. It's been a nice feeling.

"But Chelsea is a bit of a yardstick for us to see just how far we really have come. We'll be going up against a team with some superstar players who are going for the title who may well be in the Champions League final by then. But we'll be have 52,000 screaming us on and I'm sure we'll give them a good game.

"Chelsea is a massive game - it's nice to have a say in what happens in the Premier League but, in all honesty, I'm not too bothered who wins the title, it's about going out and doing the best for our club. Chelsea had a big win on Saturday, they'll play again on Wednesday and we'll see how they are when they play us on Monday.

"Manchester United have got West Ham at the weekend and it might be that they (Chelsea) need to win to go on and win the title. I think we drew 0-0 at our place near the end of last season but they've got a big game in the week, while we've got nine days to recover.

"There were a few people in the dressing room after West Ham on Saturday with stitches and tired legs - we're not used to the heat in London - and we've got time to recover.

"Two or three months ago we were conceding a goal and then conceding two or three. We threatened to do that on Saturday but we feel we have come a long way.

"But we're not kidding ourselves, we've got a long way to go. It is a nice sign, though, that we managed to put right the wrongs on Saturday.

"We were lucky to go in at half-time at 2-2 but we know we've got goals in us and we'll take the point. We've had a really good run - we were looking to get a good lead and get the fans on their back.

"A couple of weeks ago we'd have been beaten by three or four. But credit to the lads we fought back and got ourselves into it, which is a sign of the character."