EPL News: Chelsea 0 – 3 Sunderland
Sunderland stuns woeful Chelsea who were playing at home.
Chelsea had not conceded a single goal in the league at Stamford Bridge since March. They were also unbeaten at home in their last 11 matches, a run that stretches back to February.
However, the Black Cats battered an injury-ravaged Chelsea side with a perilous display of attacking football. Nedum Onuoha, Asamoah Gyan and Danny Welbeck grabbed the goals as the Blues were humiliated in front of their own fans.
Sunderland dominated the proceedings from the start with Gyan firing just wide in a lively opening few minutes. Chelsea clearly seemed deep in trouble as their new central defensive partnership of Paulo Ferriera and Ivanovic struggled
to cope with Gyan and Welbeck.
The Blues fashioned their first real chance when Mikel put Nicolas Anelka in the clear but his control let him down. Yury Zhirkov flashed a shot past the far post after a twisting run into the area. Following that was the Brazilian’s attempt
when Ramires' header was saved by Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon before Didier Drogba fired a free-kick over.
Blues keeper Petr Cech kept the scores level when Onuoha crossed for Welbeck to head the ball towards the bottom corner. Sunderland were unlucky not to score from the resulting corner when Kieran Richardson sent a shot across the face
of the goal.
Cech was the saviour again when Gyan put Welbeck through but the keeper made a brilliant save with his feet. Moments later Welbeck was brought down by Ivanovic when he got ahead of the defence and the Chelsea defender was lucky to get
just a yellow card.
After Cech made another superb double save, Onuoha dribbled through the Chelsea defence to put Sunderland in front. This happened to be the first goal Chelsea had conceded at Stamford Bridge since last March.
Chelsea's afternoon got worse in the 52nd minute when Sunderland opened up the defence once more and Gyan added the second. Jordan Henderson collected the ball from Welbeck and put Gyan clear. The Sunderland striker made no mistake as
he slipped the ball beyond Cech into the bottom right corner.
The Blues were now unable to cope with Sunderland's quick passing and movement. Welbeck sent a curling effort just wide of the far post as the visitors threatened to add to their lead.
Chelsea had been restricted to a couple of long shots from Drogba and the boos rang out from the home fans when Malouda was replaced by Salomon Kalou. The home side had rarely threatened in the second half. Boudewijn Zenden almost made
it three for the visitors when he tried to divert the ball past Cech from close range.
The rout was complete when Welbeck steered in Ashley Cole's woeful back pass to leave the Blues red faced. In the end this was Chelsea’s worst performance since defeat at Wigan last season.
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