Source: Northern_Echo
Black Cats blitz Chelsea at the Bridge
REMEMBRANCE Sunday, 2010. After events at Stamford Bridge, there's not much chance of Sunderland supporters forgetting that date for a while.[LNB] Just two weeks after suffering one of their worst defeats for many a season at St James' Park, the Black Cats regrouped to record arguably their greatest victory for a decade.[LNB] Beating league leaders Chelsea would have been enough, but instead Steve Bruce's side took their illustrious opponents to the cleaners, dominating in every department as they secured a win that was even more emphatic than the three-goal scoreline suggests.[LNB] Goals from Nedum Onuoha, Asamoah Gyan and the all-but-unplayable Danny Welbeck inflicted Chelsea's first Premier League home defeat since February, ended Sunderland's six-month wait for a Premier League away win, and lifted the Wearsiders to sixth in the table.[LNB] Crucially, the result also ensured last month's derby defeat can be erased from the memory banks. Eight of the players who had underperformed so abjectly on Tyneside made amends in the most spectacular of fashions.[LNB] Strong and well-organised at the back, competitive and controlled in the middle, inventive and clinical up front. This was a performance that confirmed Sunderland's status as a side capable of competing for Europe this season.[LNB] Unsurprisingly, given the quality of their vanquished opponents, there were red-and-white heroes all over the park.[LNB] Onuoha, scorer of a goal that will surely feature in next May's goal-of-the-season polls. Jordan Henderson, celebrating his call up for Wednesday's friendly against France with a midfield display that oozed international class. Welbeck, finally announcing his arrival as a Premier League striker of genuine goalscoring talent.[LNB] By the time of the final whistle, Chelsea were a dejected and spent force. It is hard to imagine too many other teams making the reigning champions appear so fallible this season.[LNB] The contrast with last season, when Sunderland succumbed to a 7-2 annihilation, was stark. Back then, Bruce's attempts at containment failed miserably. Ten months on, and the Black Cats boss changed tack, opting to take the game to Chelsea with a positive 4-4-2 formation.[LNB] The switch proved an unqualified success. Gyan and Welbeck were rampant throughout, but Sunderland's dominance owed much to the accomplished manner in which Henderson and Lee Cattermole held things together at the heart of midfield without the assistance of a third body.[LNB] Having been overrun on Tyneside, they controlled yesterday's encounter from first minute to last. Cattermole, allying a welcome measure of control to his boundless energy, formed a shield in front of the Sunderland back four, while Henderson, becoming an increasingly coveted property every week, prevented both Yury Zhirkov and Ramires from joining in Chelsea's attacks.[LNB] As a result, Carlo Ancelotti's side barely created an opportunity of note before the break, a marked contrast to January, when they were four up at the interval, and proof of the return of the defensive resilience that evaporated so spectacularly on derby day at the end of last month.[LNB] Craig Gordon, now securely restored to the starting line-up, was a spectator throughout, even if he had to be alert to cut off Nicolas Anelka as he threatened to break clear early on.[LNB] Gordon also claimed a looping header from Ramires and a driven free-kick from Didier Drogba before the break, but save for another set-piece that Drogba hammered narrowly over the crossbar, the hosts lacked their usual menace.[LNB] Indeed, had Sunderland's attackers been rather more clinical, Chelsea could have found themselves trailing by two or three goals at the interval.[LNB] As it was, the Black Cats headed into half-time one goal to the good, but that one goal could hardly have been any more impressive.[LNB] Last season, Ashley Cole scored one of the goals of the season in this fixture; ten months on, and Onuoha produced an even better strike to break the deadlock.[LNB] The Manchester City loanee has impressed at the back since moving from Eastlands in the summer, but had struggled to make an impact at the other end of the field. Not any more.[LNB] Picking up Branislav Ivanovic's headed clearance in the middle of the Chelsea half, Onuoha dribbled past John Obi Mikel, Jose Bosingwa and Ivanovic himself as he slalomed his way into the area.[LNB] His poise and balance were impeccable, but were nothing compared to the composure that enabled him to slot a calm left-footed finish past an advancing Petr Cech. It was the first Premier League goal Chelsea had conceded at Stamford Bridge this season, and the first Sunderland goal scored by anyone other than Gyan or Darren Bent.[LNB] It was also no more than Sunderland deserved for an enterprising 15-minute spell that saw them trouble Chelsea repeatedly at the end of the first half.[LNB] An enterprising Welbeck could have had a brace, forcing Cech into two smart saves to deny a diving header from Onuoha's cross and a low drive that crowned a surging run that exposed a huge gap at the heart of Chelsea's makeshift centre-half pairing.[LNB] That pairing should have been separated five minutes before the break, but despite hauling back Welbeck when he appeared to be the last Chelsea defender, Ivanovic was only booked for his indiscretion. Racing on to Bolo Zenden's through ball, it is hard to imagine Welbeck would not have got a shot away had his progress not been halted.[LNB] Onuoha's goal shortly after represented justice of a sort, but even better was to come seven minutes after the interval. If a one-goal lead was more than the Black Cats could have hoped for, a two-goal advantage was truly the stuff of dreams.[LNB] Gyan's predatory instincts had enabled him to score three goals in two games against Stoke and Tottenham with a poise befitting a £13m record signing, the Ghanaian calmly called on them again to make it four goals in a week.[LNB] A slick one-two with Henderson sent him galloping clear in the inside-left channel, and while Cech came out to narrow the angle, Gyan rolled a precise side-footed finish into the bottom right-hand corner of the net. After a slow start to his Sunderland career, the striker has certainly made up for lost time now.[LNB] Two goals to the good, attention was always going to turn to the opposite end of the field and the task of keeping Chelsea out, but the anticipated cavalry charge never arrived.[LNB] Instead, Sunderland added a third with three minutes left. Welbeck latched on to a sloppy backpass from Cole and, from an acute angle on the right-hand side, slotted a clinical finish past Cech. A victory that few could have foreseen was complete.[LNB]
