CHELSEA 5-0 SUNDERLAND

So Chelsea went into this one looking for their first win in what will need to be a new home run and you’d have thought Sunderland were a little more optimistic than they might’ve been last week. As it turned out though, much to Roy Keane’s annoyance, his side didn’t have much to offer.

Chelsea had some frustrating moments here and there at the start, although made the best of it and could’ve made the breakthrough with a stunning Deco shot if the bar hadn’t got in the way. Credit to Chelsea for plugging away though because they were about to have a 30 minute spell during which they’d score five goals.

The first one came after a lovely bit of footwork from the often missed Joe Cole, who’s drive went under the keeper for Alex to pop in Chelsea’s landmark goal. The second, which also should have gone to Alex, started with a lovely ball from Deco on the edge of the area and great awareness from Frank Lampard, for Nicolas Anelka to put it in. However, the ball had come off Alex and was clearly going in although a clearly offside Anelka decided to risk the decision and nick it on the line anyway. Obviously a striker’s instinct but a bit unfair on Alex, who’d been causing Sunderland all sorts of problems as the extra man in the box.

Just after the half hour mark, the unfortunate new FA rule that requires Chelsea to have at least one player go off injured each game, came into play with Ashley Cole replaced by Wayne Bridge, but we’re so used to it, we just carried on regardless. Deco, who looked like he’s getting there in terms of fitness again, has such a great understanding with Frank Lampard and their link up play at times was a pleasure to watch. Joe Cole, gave Chelsea an added dimension in attack, and after he’d gone off again mid-week, gave us a lot more quality in his 70 minute spell than I could’ve hoped for. And Sunderland seemed happy to sit back with ten men behind the ball while Chelsea were stringing the passes together patiently waiting for the next goal which came as Lampard fizzed the ball in to Malouda, and with Anelka in a better position, unselfishly settled for assisting Anelka’s second just on half-time.

So, second half and it just carried on from the first really, except Roy Keane was now watching from the stands having been sent off for daring to question the official’s eyesight during the break. Fair play to him though, he had every right to question a decision about our second goal although I think even without it, it was clear we were always going to win this game comfortably. Not that the home crowd appeared to notice, because at this time I thought they were a right let down – too busy eating their prawn sandwiches to worry about making a noise eh Roy?

Anyway, Lampard gets Chelsea’s fourth and his 100^th 5 minutes after the break and any concerns I’d expressed about us not being creative enough to break teams down at home seemed a bit of a nonsense. Anelka, who’d looked a lot more lively in this game, completed his hattrick 2 minutes later, with a ball that definitely wiped its feet as it looped over the keeper, and Chelsea’s goal rout was complete.

It’s fair to say Chelsea definitely took their foot off the pedal at that stage and I’m sure with 25 minutes still to play, Scolari would’ve been expecting even more goals but with Roma coming up mid-week, I won’t be quite so critical of their decision to take it easy.

All in all, a good enough performance where Chelsea didn’t need to get out of second gear against a poor Sunderland side and yet, were still able to put 5 goals in the back of the net as well as demonstrate the odd bit of exhibition stuff to boot. Keane, who’d left both Cisse and Diouf on the bench, amid rumours that he’d fallen out with the pair of them, might need to ask himself whether it was really worth cutting off his nose to spite his face though.

After the game, the Sunderland manager said “We were outclassed by a top, top team. When you’re losing 5-0 and Didier Drogba comes on you know you’re in trouble.” More amusingly though, from the manager who seems to have an unusual amount of respect for the team everyone else loves to hate, stated “I had a really good view for the second half though.”

Filed under: Match report