Asamoah Gyan
November 15, 2010: Leaders Chelsea FC suffered a shock 3-0 defeat at the hands of Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. The league leaders came into this match sitting at the top of the Premier League table 2 points clear of second placed Arsenal with a game in hand. With United, City and Liverpool all dropping points on Saturday, it was an opportunity to take for the champions. However, not all went as planned when the Black Cats outplayed and outmanoeuvred the Chelsea players throughout the match and ran out 3-0 deserved winners.
Statistics
Chelsea were enjoying an unbeaten run of 9 games at home. Interestingly, the last 39 goals scored at Stamford Bridge were by the home team. Chelsea had gone 916 minutes at home without conceding a goal.
Sunderland last won at the Bridge over 9 years ago.
Pre-Match
The Chelsea squad was plagued with injuries and suspensions as captain John Terry, influential midfielders Michael Essien and Frank Lampard, defender Alex, all sat out the match.
Even then, the Chelsea squad with Drogba, Anelka and Malouda playing looked strong enough to grind out a win. All pundits predicted an easy 2-0 or 3-0 win for the champions.
Match Summary
The match started with a high tempo with Chelsea having the majority of the possession. At one point of time, the statistic showed a 70:30 possession in favour of the champions. They passed the ball around but failed to create impact in the final third of the ground. Soon after, the momentum started shifting and Chelsea keeper Petr Cech was forced to make four brilliant saves in immediate succession. Chelsea were finally punished for not taking their chances in the 44th minute when Nedum Onuoha skipped playfully past three defenders to put the ball skilfully behind the goalkeeper. The first half ended with Sunderland a goal to the front.
After the restart, Sunderland kept up their ante and put the victory beyond doubt with a terrific team goal in the 52nd minute. Danny Welbeck gave a sharp pass to English Jordan Henderson whose inch perfect pass Gyan effortlessly converted into a goal.
After that, the rest of the match just seemed to be formality as the Chelsea’s unimaginative midfield and forward line never really created any chances, and had no decent attempt at goal other than a Drogba free kick which he smashed at the wall. Branislav Ivanovic escaped a red card after he brought down Danny Welbeck right in front of the keeper, denying him a goal attempt. However, the referee showing leniency only showed him a yellow card and he escaped suspension.
Chelsea’s miserable evening was capped with a horrific mistake by Ashley Cole when he, trying to keep the ball from Sunderland’s Richardson, passed the ball to keeper Cech, but it landed in the feet of Danny Welbeck who just put it in the goal line in the 87th minute.
Post-Match
With this convincing victory, Sunderland moved up the table to a European spot at the 6th position, and Chelsea, though still at the top, remain just two points clear of second places Arsenal who jumped Manchester United to this position with a convincing 2-0 victory against Everton. With this, the race to the cup is blown wide open with more than half a season to go!
Tags: Black Cats, Chelsea, EPL, Football, Premier League, Soccer, Sports, Stamford Bridge, Sunderland
