Chelsea 5-0 Sunderland

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Chelsea F.C. 5 - 0 Sunderland

November 1 2008, Premier League, Stamford Bridge, West London



Nicolas Anelka scored a hat-trick as Chelsea thrashed Sunderland at Stamford Bridge to return to the top of the Premier League.

The Frenchman fired home from close range early in the second half to complete his treble in what was a superb performance by the Chelsea forward. Alex da Costa opened the scoring, sliding the ball into the net after Martin Fulop had spilled Joe Cole's shot, before Anelka completed a 23-minute hat-trick after Frank Lampard had headed Joe Cole's cross beyond the Sunderland goalkeeper.

It was a magnificent performance which sees the Blues embark on a new unbeaten home run in style, with every single player performing to the best of their ability. From Petr Cech's safe goalkeeping, to John Mikel Obi's quietly effective display, to Florent Malouda's devastating display on the wing, the Stamford Bridge faithful were treated to some of the best football seen in West London for many years as several milestones were met in the match.

Chelsea matched their own 5-0 record away demolition of Middlesbrough to equal the biggest win of the season in the Premier League, whilst also scoring their 1000th goal in the division. At a personal level, Petr Cech secured his 100th Chelsea clean sheet on his 180th appearance, whilst skipper John Terry capped off an imperious performance with his 350th start in a blue jersey. Frank Lampard also netted his 100th top flight goal in England on a perfect day for the home side - and an Arsenal loss at the hands of Stoke and an Everton victory over Fulham did nothing but multiply the enjoyment of the Chelsea fans.

With Ricardo Carvalho injured, Luiz Felipe Scolari elected to bring in Brazilian centre-half Alex into the Chelsea side that was otherwise unchanged. Sunderland were hit by changes as Roy Keane made his dissatisfaction clear from his side's poor display in a loss to Stoke in midweek, as former Fulham and Tottenham winger Steed Malbranque was met by a resounding boo from the Matthew Harding End.

Chelsea begun the game like a house-on-fire, despite the pouring rain at Stamford Bridge. The pitch was saturated and the ball was zipping along the surface - an environment that suited Chelsea's one- and two-touch passing game. Chelsea were dominating possession but despite seizing control of the game, the London side were limited to only two decent efforts in the opening exchanges, as Florent Malouda shot narrowly wide before Ashley Cole wasted a decent opportunity after Anelka had inadvertently flicked the ball into the path of the England full-back.

Deco's delicate strike came back off the bar on 16 minutes as Chelsea's dominance was becoming gradually more apparent. The Portuguese magician found himself in a yard of space just outside the Sunderland box, and his effort managed to beat Martin Fulop but the crossbar stood firm. Malouda had had another effort moments beforehand, but his strike from 20 yards lacked the accuracy to seriously trouble Martin Fulop as the goalkeeper - a stand-in for the injured Craig Gordon - gathered comfortably.

Chelsea made the breakthrough on 28 minutes as Alex scored a goal from a position a centre-back had no right to be in. Joe Cole collected the ball and cut inside his marker brilliantly with a fantastic piece of skill, before his shot was partially stopped by the hand of Fulop. The greasy ball spun off the goalkeeper's glove and into the path of Alex, who made no mistake from 2 yards out. It was the defender's first goal of the season and his first since the 4-4 draw with Aston Villa, and he was almost at it again two minutes later.

Lampard's ball across the box was aimed towards Alex, who slid in for what would have been a carbon-copy of his earlier strike, but the ball skimmed off of the surface, onto Anelka and into the net. There was a hint of offside about the goal, as Anelka was in front of the ball when it was directed into his path by the Brazil international, but the goal stood and Chelsea were looking rampant.

The Chelsea of recent years may have been happy to accept the 2-0 score line as a safe result, but under Scolari's tutelage, the Blues were looking devastating in front of goal and their attacking persistence paid off as Anelka fired home from Malouda's pass in first-half stoppage time.

The former-Lyon winger received a ball from Lampard to put him one-on-one with Fulop, but rather than take the shot on himself, the French international squared the ball to his compatriot, Anelka, who finished with aplomb from five yards. Stamford Bridge erupted with a roar of jubilation as the nonchalant Chelsea number 39 celebrated in trademark 'butterfly fingers' style.

As they had done in the first-half, Chelsea opened up the Sunderland defence twice in the space of three minutes to put them 5-0 up with barely 53 minutes on the clock. Joe Cole's brilliance in the box beat ex-West Ham full-back George McCartney with ease, and his teasing cross to the back post was headed home by Frank Lampard, who continued to show his stunning early season form by scoring his eight goal of the season and his fifth in the Premier League, which incidentally was his 100th goal in top-flight English football.

Anelka secured his hat-trick moments later as he found the net with the aid of an error by Fulop. The Frenchman shot from the edge of the area as Chelsea hit Sunderland on the counter-attack, and the ball skimmed off the surface and Fulop could only help the ball into the net. It was an unfortunate error that was not helped by the horrendous conditions, but Chelsea were rampant and at one point looked like they were capable of netting double figures.

However, the Blues eased their foot off of the pedal, and comfortably played out the remaining 30 minutes comfortably; passing the ball amongst themselves and encouraging the beleaguered Sunderland players to attack them. Mineiro was introduced with 15 minutes remaining for his Chelsea debut and slotted in perfectly to the well-oiled midfield machine, and Didier Drogba was also welcomed back to club duties after a period on the sidelines.

Despite not scoring again before the conclusion of the game, the Blues were dominant throughout and Sunderland could only muster one decent attack, which saw Petr Cech excellently deny Djibril Cissé when one-on-one with the ex-Marseille forward - a fitting response from the Czech as he went on to reach his 100th Blues clean-sheet.

The final whistle blew with Chelsea piling the pressure on Liverpool, and memories of that ill-fated match against the Merseysiders is almost forgotten following two sensational performances against Hull and Sunderland. The Blues are back in town, and with Liverpool losing 2-1 to Tottenham at White Hart Lane, Chelsea's incredible goal differences means the Blues are back on top of the Premier League.
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Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Bridge, Mikel, Kalou, Deco, Lampard, Malouda, Anelka
Subs: Bridge, Mineiro, Drogba

Sunderland: Fulop, Chimbonda, Nosworthy, Ferdinand, McCartney, Waghorn, Malbranque, Whitehead, Tainio, Richardson, Jones
Subs: Cissé, Henderson

Attendance: 41,693

Star Man : Nicolas Anelka

Edited November 1, 2008 by BlueLion