Sturridge strike sinks Sunderland

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Sunderland 1-2 Chelsea

Mata and Meireles impress on full débuts as terrific Blues earn deserved win

John Terry and Daniel Sturridge scored as Chelsea recorded an impressive win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light - propelling the Blues to third in the Premier League.

England captain Terry - fresh from having led his country to back-to-back victories over Bulgaria and Wales - opened the scoring in the first half as he converted from close range after Spanish winger Juan Mata had hit the post with a free-kick, as Andre Villas-Boas' side dominated an entertaining first half.

After the break, deadline-day signing Raul Meireles then played a perfect through-ball for Daniel Sturridge to wrap up the win with just his second league goal for the club; superbly back-heeling the ball beyond Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet under pressure from former Manchester United defender Wes Brown to give the Blues a two-goal advantage.

The home side did pull back a late consolation goal when Ji Dong-Won fired home from Nicklas Bendtner's knock-down to set up a tense finale, but with Branislav Ivanovic and goalscoring skipper Terry in fine form defensively, Chelsea held firm to record a third consecutive Premier League victory and their seventh straight win away in Sunderland - despite the lack of a much-needed clean sheet.

Ultimately, a 2-1 scoreline flatters the home side, who were emphatically second-best to Villas-Boas' charges for much of the match. The Blues were able to boast the vast majority of a game of limited goalscoring chances, and they offered their best showing of a low-key start to the season with a flowing passing performance.

Slick interchanges and invention out wide was testament to the formation of an understanding between wide duo Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge, both of them equally lively alongside Nicolas Anelka, who was preferred to the under-fire Fernando Torres.

Dominating the match in terms of chances and possession, sub-par performances against West Brom and Norwich had left a lot to be desired in terms of the side's attacking qualities, and Mata obliged with an impressive full début. The creative pivotpoint of the team, every meaningful attack came through the Spanish wing wizard, whilst the influential Meireles was equally as competent on his first team bow for the West London outfit following his big money move from Liverpool.

Whilst the final score does not necessarily reflect the balance of play, the improvement from the previous two matches was clear to see, with the Blues seemingly having removed the shackles from their attacking efforts. Meanwhile, they were also closer to their usual defensive rigidity, with the returning Petr Cech offering confidence to a back four that had been error-prone and shaky at-best in the Czech stopper's absence.

But whilst the visitors began with purpose, with two probing attacks down the left almost creating goalscoring chances for Sturridge, but the first true chance of the game fell the way of Steve Bruce's team. Seb Larsson's ball from deep evaded the Blues defence, allowing Nicklas Bendtner the chance to head goalwards, but the Danish centre forward could only glance his effort wide when he ought to have at least tested Cech with a relatively uncontested header.

That chance had come from a free-kick and it was a similar dead ball opportunity which allowed Chelsea to open the scoring on 17 minutes. Brown had hacked down Anelka on the edge of the penalty area, and the resultant free-kick saw Mata expertly lash the ball goalwards, only to be denied by the base of the post. The Blues recycled the opportunity and it was Terry who managed to fire the ball home beyond Mignolet, with his effort deflecting in off Phil Bardsley, a scorer in last season's corresponding fixture.

An element of controversey threatened to overshadow the goal as the free-kick was awarded for what the home support judged to be an inoccuous incident, but Terry's first of the season was ample reward for an impressive, high-intensity start to the match.

Suddenly in the ascendancy, the goal seemed to buoy last season's Premier League runners-up whilst Sunderland were conversely on the ropes. They were also perhaps lucky to retain their contingent of eleven men as Jack Colback breathed a sigh of relief after only being shown a yellow card for a studs-up challenge on the marauding Ramires - the Brazilian showed no ill effects, however, as he recovered to combine with Mata and Anelka, only for the latter to screw his shot wide.

Ramires himself then curled wide after a run from deep, whilst new boy Meireles produced a fine save out of the Sunderland goalkeeper when his long-range effort took a slight deflection off of Titus Bramble. Anelka, heavily involved prior to the interval, then had another shot blocked from the edge of the area, before Jose Bosingwa's cross just evaded Sturridge inside the six yard box - had the England Under 21s star gambled it would surely have been the second goal the Chelsea performance warranted.

That was to be the last guilt-edged chance of the first half, though Cech was finally tested when he parried away a stinging effort from Sessegnon as the first half drew to a close with Chelsea in the lead. The same pattern would be repeated in the second half, with Villas-Boas' side enjoying the majority of ball possession and dominating in terms of territory.

Débutante Meireles was enjoying a dominating performance alongside Frank Lampard and Ramires, with the ex-Porto man alternating with his Brazilian team-mate in making runs from deep. Strong ball retention was key to the Blues' attacking attempts with Meireles exemplary on his first Chelsea appearance.

And it was the Chelsea number 16 who created the second goal; his inch-perfect aerial through-ball beating the Sunderland defensive line for Sturridge to give chase to. With a combination of pace and strength, he held off his marker before audaciously spinning and knocking the ball beyond Mignolet with his heel. It was a wonderful piece of inventive play, with the shock element of the strike catching the Black Cats off-guard as the ex-Manchester City starlet netted his first Premier League goal for Chelsea since April 2010.

Despite scoring what would be the game-clinching strike, Sturridge was soon withdrawn from the field after 61 minutes, with Florent Malouda being introduced. That switch almost paid immediate dividends as the Frenchman forced a stop out of Mignolet - but Sunderland soon found a footing and went close when substitute Connor Wickham looped a header onto the roof of Cech's net.

Having been critical of their side for much of the match, the locals had found renewed vigour in their support of the Black Cats and the home side responded with an improved showing. Chelsea had taken their foot off the gas after going 2-0 up, deciding to play within themselves ahead of Tuesday night's opening Champions League encounter with Bayer Leverkusen, allowing Steve Bruce's men a route back into the contest.

Sunderland responded with a shift in formation to a more attacking 4-4-2, but the next chance fell the way of the West Londoners as Malouda almost played Ramires in, only for the Sunderland keeper to just do enough to put the Brazilian off and lift his effort well wide of the target.

Refusing to die down, however, the Sunderland revival that had taken two Chelsea goals to instigate found new life with the introduction of Ji Dong-Won from the bench, and the young South Korean duly fired home on his début from Bendtner's flick to give the hosts a fighting chance of rescuing an undeserved draw when he converted in stoppage time.

In light of something of a mini aerial bombardment as the game drew to a close, Ivanovic and Terry marshalled the defence sufficiently enough to prevent any unlikely comeback, whilst another new signing, Oriol Romeu, looked equally as assured as the Blues secured a third straight win and continue the side's unbeaten start to the season.

Whilst the two Manchester clubs continue to set the pace, Villas-Boas' men continue to revel in the title of underdogs for the Premier League crown - and a continuation of the side's winning league form in the Champions League will make for a satisfactory start to the new campaign.

Sunderland (4-2-3-1): Mignolet; Bardsley (Elmohamady 61), Bramble, Brown, Richardson; Gardner, Cattermole © (Wickham 65); Larsson, Sessègnon (Ji 81), Colback; Bendtner.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry ©, Cole; Ramires, Meireles, Lampard; Sturridge (Malouda 61), Anelka (Romeu 79), Mata (Torres 73).

The TalkChelsea.net 'Man of the Match' award goes to Chelsea's number 10 - JUAN MATA

[Guest justin_3d]

Good read.

Now to wait and see what will come of Mikel.

And Anelka was not that good. Will also like to see who should be the main striker up front.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I thought Anelka played very well for the team and linked up well with the wingers.

[Ortiv 42]

Accurate piece. Spot on with Mata as MOM. I'm salivating at the possibility of Mata and McEachran in the same side, pulling strings in midfield. :eyebrows:

[Tomo 21,681]

Have to disagree with MOTM, i thought Malouda passing back to Cole and shooting from every angle was very unique, unpredictable and a joy to behold

In all seriousness good performance at a ground where United, Arsenal and City all dropped points in there most recent visit, good to see a bit of Romeu aswell.

[termninja 5,290]

Great review as always mate, and spot on for MOTM

[SeB 1,281]

Have to disagree with MOTM, i thought Malouda passing back to Cole and shooting from every angle was very unique, unpredictable and a joy to behold

Malouda, great shooting instinct and great assist for Torres

I think we won't be friends any longer, you are a you are a pale imitator, my post was before yours

Alex, can you explain from where comes débuts and débutante ?

[BlueLion. 21,491]

The accent on the 'e' is accurate for the English use of the word

[SeB 1,281]

Glad to learn this, I did not know :tophat:

The débutante is also proper ? In french it refers to a feminine name

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Either débutante or débutant is correct, you are quite right that with an 'e' it is the French feminine.

[zolayes 14,489]

A different report to those seen on the match thread ,,,apparently Lampard was shit again and Torres was worse ...and of course Malouda

never passes to Torres ... otherwise I guess the report was ok ... just.......

[DanAdibi! 106]

Seriously lets get the big guy on the pitch. Lukaku!

[Laylabelle 9,296]

A different report to those seen on the match thread ,,,apparently Lampard was shit again and Torres was worse ...and of course Malouda

never passes to Torres ... otherwise I guess the report was ok ... just.......

And we played shit..then we didnt play shit..and everything was wrong and we were lucky yada yada

Great report as usual..least not all doom and gloom!

And so so so glad Meireles had a good game!

[zolayes 14,489]

And we played shit..then we didnt play shit..and everything was wrong and we were lucky yada yada

Great report as usual..least not all doom and gloom!

And so so so glad Meireles had a good game!

you realise Stoke beat our second favourite team today .... :toke:

[Laylabelle 9,296]

I know hah!!! Made our result even better..was starting to worry lol..not the same starting the season without them loosing a load..hopfully their good spell was a fluke and get back to normal from here

[Guest justin_3d]

I thought Anelka played very well for the team and linked up well with the wingers.

Really?

For me it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Other then that i am eager to see what will Mikel role will now be.

And another thing that is creeping up on me, is A. Cole performance. Is dropping....would say mainly to his age.

AVB has to start giving Ryan some playing time. Cause if A. Cole gets injure, we will throw Ryan as a starter with out much playing time.

I rather see him getting slowly time in.

It's a pity he can't play the CL group stage.

[Tomo 21,681]

Really?

For me it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Other then that i am eager to see what will Mikel role will now be.

And another thing that is creeping up on me, is A. Cole performance. Is dropping....would say mainly to his age.

AVB has to start giving Ryan some playing time. Cause if A. Cole gets injure, we will throw Ryan as a starter with out much playing time.

I rather see him getting slowly time in.

It's a pity he can't play the CL group stage.

I can see Ryan getting more game time as the season goes on.

Although if im being honest i don't think his exclusion for the CL is that bad, if Cole is out for the Valencia match and we have qualification at stake (which looking at our group won't suprise me) and Ryan makes a error that knockes us out that could and probally will finish him.

I'd say for this season Carling Cup all games, some FA Cup games and 5-10 premierleague games and loet him buold on that next season. Although i think Aziz Deen Conteh could eclipse him in the next few years.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Really?

For me it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Other then that i am eager to see what will Mikel role will now be.

And another thing that is creeping up on me, is A. Cole performance. Is dropping....would say mainly to his age.

AVB has to start giving Ryan some playing time. Cause if A. Cole gets injure, we will throw Ryan as a starter with out much playing time.

I rather see him getting slowly time in.

It's a pity he can't play the CL group stage.

Yeah i agree about Anelka. Made some great runs though, i would give him that.