A new chapter in Chelsea football history began with a commanding 3-1 win over Sunderland at Stamford Bridge last night.
The Blues looked to put the memories of Jose Mourinho and a horrible early season behind them by starting the match with immediate attacking intent. Early pressure proved too much for the visitors, with a rocketing Branislav Ivanovic header on the end of a Willian corner beating Costel Pantilimon and crashing into the net inside five minutes.
With the lead deservedly doubled by a close-range Pedro finish soon after, Sam Allardyce’s men were hardly given a chance in the first-half by a Chelsea side which needed to make a statement. As newly appointed manager Guus Hiddink watched from the stands with Roman Abramovich the reigning champions played with a confidence in their stride that had been long missed, controlling possession with a mix of slick passing and physicality.
Oscar’s converted penalty just minutes into the second-half put the result beyond doubt, following Pantilimon’s foul on a charging Willian inside the 18-yard box, although another Chelsea defensive lapse gave the Black Cats some measure of hope when an unmarked Fabio Borini headed home a loose ball from an Adam Johnson free-kick.
The victory would have certainly eased some of the nerves around Stamford Bridge after the ‘Special One’ was cast aside, while another defeat means Sunderland will certainly face a New Year relegation battle.
Team News
While it was not enough to please the fans, a new face on the sidelines saw a number of changes to the underperforming Chelsea squad which lost to Leicester last weekend. The exclusion of playmaker Eden Hazard from the starting XI allowed the incoming Pedro and Oscar to feature heavily in the attack, while Cesc Fabregas took back his holding-midfield role at the expense of Ramires. The partnership of John Terry and Kurt Zouma in central-defence was also retained in the 4-2-3-1 formation.
Sam Allardyce would take no chances with his setup for the visit to South London, starting his team with five at the back as Sunderland welcomed the returning presence of Younes Kaboul in the defence. Steven Fletcher would be the attacker to take a spot on the bench, as the trio of Jack Rodwell, Ola Toivonen and Yann M’Vila looked to feed Jermain Defoe and Duncan Watmore. However, an early injury to the vital Sebastian Coates would put a dent in the Black Cats’ plans that would not be recovered from.
Real attacking intent shown for first time
With incoming figurehead Hiddink watching on from above, the Blues wanted to prove that Mourinho’s departure would not negatively affect the team and used the home field advantage to press forward from the outset. A major criticism over the past four months, one focused on Diego Costa particularly, had been a glaring lack of firepower on the occasions when the ball was delivered inside the 18-yard box, but the disorganisation of Sunderland meant that Chelsea’s attackers were given ample room to practice their shooting and ultimately overwhelm Pantilimon after 17 attempts at the net.
The comfortable scoreline also meant that little notice was given to the absence of Hazard in the midfield, with his arguably overlooked teammate Oscar filling any potential void with six completed take-ons, five individual shots and a converted penalty. Fellow attacker Pedro had what may have been his best performance since moving to Chelsea, also recording his name on the scoresheet and providing a plethora of crosses.
Black Cats all over the place
Despite the arrival of survival specialist Allardyce, the Sunderland ship is still yet to steady itself and whereas sides such as Bournemouth showed no respect to Chelsea’s reputation in this current situation, the visitors allowed Chelsea to look as good as the final scoreline would suggest and made no attempt to exploit their current weaknesses. Kaboul looks as though he is trapped in slow motion when trying to close the ball down and he was far too easily outmuscled as the home team’s pressure led to the opening two goals coming from inside the 18-yard box.
Exemplifying Sunderland’s outing was Rodwell’s efforts in the midfield battle, completing a horrid 48% of passes and losing out on all attempted tackles. A constant disruption in their distribution may have been the killing blow though, with more than a quarter of the team’s overall passes missed throughout the 90 minutes, stopping the chance of any decent service getting through to Defoe or Watmore up front.
Chelsea conclusion
A victory against the 19th placed side on the ladder is definitely nothing for Chelsea to get too excited about, but it came at the right time and for the majority of this outing at least the team were playing the level of football that took them to championship heights last season. With a tactical mind such as Guus Hiddink’s now set to take over, optimism may be higher than the reaction of the fans at Stamford Bridge may suggest and continued results such as these will distil any tension that currently lingers. The Blues next face a Watford side exceeding all expectations, in a match that will tell us if this was indeed the turning point or another ‘false dawn’.
Sunderland conclusion
Another demoralising result for a side low on both passion and ideas leaves Sunderland firmly lodged inside the dropzone ahead of the critical New Year period. With a visit to the Etihad to face Manchester City sure to provide the toughest of Christmas tests also followed by a clash against Liverpool, ‘Big Sam’ will need to do some of his best work to keep any glimmer of top-flight survival alive.
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