There were several things that came out of the mid-week internationals that caught my interest.

England's display was worrying, France were superb, Spain are still suffering from a World Cup hangover, and Italy striker Mario Balotelli has got a screw loose.

I know the boy is going through a hard time playing for his country, and the so-called fans who hurled abuse at him during the game against Romania are beneath contempt.

He just has to try and get his head down, play his game, and ignore them. The best thing he can do is score goals because that is the best way to shut them up.

However, he's not helping himself with the way he has acted in the past, and continues to act. He had problems at Inter Milan and this week has said he would like to play for AC Milan.

The boy needs to make his mind up. It's difficult because he's a young fella who's come into all this so quickly, so he's got to be able to handle what he's doing but look at his recent past.

Last year he wanted away from Italy, from Inter Milan, he didn't want to be there, now he wants to go back to AC Milan. But Manchester City paid £30 million for him, he can't think they're going to let him go that easily.

The best thing he can do is settle down and start playing, and doing what he does best, which is playing football. As a player you've got to get out there, do what you've got to do, keep your mouth closed and learn. Because, he is still learning, I don't know why he's so cocky, he hasn't really proved himself yet in Italy or England, there is no real reason for him to be that way.

Mind you, it's not like Manchester City don't need him. They've struggled to score goals this season and Fulham, who they play tomorrow, won't be easy to beat at Craven Cottage. Goals can do wonders for your standing if you're a striker, and maybe now is Balotelli's time to shine.

There could be a couple of upsets in the Premier League this weekend, and it will be interesting to see how Chelsea bounce back from their defeat at home to Sunderland. I've always said that when a team loses some of its starters, you find out what they are really made of.

Chelsea are without John Terry, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Alex, and it showed against Steve Bruce's side. Not that I want to take anything away from Sunderland, they were superb, but that's four World class players that were missing from the line-up, and today's game against Birmingham City isn't going to be easy.

My boys, meanwhile, are playing Liverpool, and after Stephen Gerrards injury on Wednesday it might be the right time to play them. I know that Liverpool fans will want to know why Gerrard wasn't protected because it was a 'friendly', but there's no such thing in professional football. You still want to win no matter what the circumstances.

Liverpool have had a good couple of weeks and are 11 in the table, but they are still only three points above the relegation zone which tells you how close the Premier League is this year.

A couple of wins and West Ham could even start climbing the league. We're not losing, we're picking up a point here, a point there, and it's like a marathon race, it's not a sprint. What happens at the end of the season is the important thing. Slowly we are playing a bit better, hopefully we can get something today, get a little run going, and we can move up the table a bit.

The game of the weekend, however, is today's North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham. It's normally a tough, tough match, but I think whoever settles down first will come out on top.

Emirates Stadium is not the fortress Highbury was in the past, and Arsene Wenger's team have been embarassed there a couple of times already this season.

It should be an interesting game. One thing about Spurs, you know what you're going to get, they're going to come to play football and will work their socks off. If Arsenal match that, it should be a very entertaining game.