CHELSEA 5 SUNDERLAND 0:SATURDAY'S DOWNPOUR saturated both teams but only Sunderland looked bedraggled. The fluency of Chelsea's football would have further brightened a fine day in August. On a damp, dark afternoon in November it sparkled like winter sunshine.
When Chelsea scored three times in eight minutes to lead 5-0 with more than half an hour remaining, visions of the 8-0 maulings Sunderland suffered at West Ham and Watford in the late 1960s and early '80s sprang to mind. That Roy Keane's side escaped further punishment owed more to the victors' forbearance than any late resistance on Sunderland's part. From start to finish theirs was an inept performance.
The win restored Chelsea to the top of table after they had lost the lead a week earlier when Liverpool won at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool's subsequent defeat at Spurs ensured Chelsea would stay ahead on goal difference for at least another week.
The measure of Chelsea's victory will not have been lost on Roma, their opponents in the Champions League tomorrow night. Two weeks ago the Italian side came to London aware Luiz Felipe Scolari's team had just won 5-0 at Middlesbrough and set out their stall accordingly, defending in numbers and defying Chelsea to find a way through. Faced with a mass of bodies, Chelsea struggled to create chances and only won when John Terry got his head to a corner from Frank Lampard. Roma may be equally apprehensive about the return game although they need to score, which should be to Chelsea's advantage.
Sunderland, too, thought the best way to approach Saturday's game was to get everyone behind the ball yet their defence turned out to be not so much a thorny thicket as a petrified forest. The speed, accuracy and astute angles of Chelsea's passing left Keane's side utterly bemused and while there was more than a hint of offside about the second goal, so many blue shirts were appearing behind Sunderland's defence and queueing up to score that any confusion on the officials' part was understandable.
Nicolas Anelka completed a hat-trick with two tap-ins and a shot which was initially blocked by Marton Fulop only to loop on into the net off the goalkeeper's body. Chelsea's opening goal, finished off by Alex after Joe Cole's shot had been half-stopped by Fulop, was their 1,000th in the Premier League. Their fourth was Lampard's 100th, a header from Cole's weighted centre. To complete a victory for round figures, Petr Cech kept his 100th clean sheet.
Didier Drogba came on for the last 27 minutes to test his recently damaged knee but Scolari confirmed Anelka would continue to lead the attack in Rome. Ashley Cole's participation will depend on the result of a scan on a calf injury.
At the heart of a win which further emphasised Chelsea's rebirth under Scolari as a team which has added fun to functionalism was the domination in midfield of Lampard and Deco supported by the speed, industry and imaginaton on the flanks of Joe Cole and Florent Malouda. Scolari got a bit carried away afterwards. "I think this is the season we need to think who is the best in the world. It is Frank Lampard," he enthused.
Lampard is in irrepressible form with Deco not far behind and, if after 11 matches, Chelsea can lead the Premier League by 15 on goal difference while conceding only four with nearly half of their regular side in the treatment room, it is clearly going to take a lot to deny them a third title in five seasons. However, they do need to start beating their principal rivals.
"There's no harm and no shame losing to a top, top football team," said Keane. "Good players like Deco and Frank Lampard open you up because they have got good touch and pace. I've never had a problem praising the opposition. I wouldn't say I'm happy. I'm just not angry."
Keane, however, was a bit upset with the officials at half-time - "All you want when you play one of the big boys is a bit of fairness" - and watched the second half from the stand. He insisted he had not been sent off, merely advised not to sit on the Sunderland bench.
Guardian Service
