Chelsea 7 Sunderland 2: CHELSEA HAVE taken a tortuous route to reach this point but, at last, the pizzazz Roman Abramovich has long craved is forthcoming. Managers have come and gone in recent years, each unable to quench the Russian's thirst for the scintillating while simultaneously maintaining a coherent challenge for honours.
Carlo Ancelotti has yet to win anything but, on inspiring occasions such as these, his side are capable of appearing untouchable.
Abramovich was not present to witness the most swashbuckling hiding inflicted by Chelsea in the top flight since Jimmy Greaves scored five against West Brom half a century ago, but he will have relished the match report enthusiastically delivered to him by his chairman, Bruce Buck, on Saturday night.
Sunderland were pathetic opposition, their rearguard overrun from the outset, but better sides would have succumbed to a Chelsea side this rampant.
“This is the owner’s team, not mine,” said Ancelotti. “He likes to see Chelsea play like we did today. If we continue to play like that, it will be difficult to lose a game.”
This was the fluid, free-flowing football that Jose Mourinho could provide only sporadically, for all the trophies won during his spell in charge. The scatter-gun approach to managerial appointments in the seasons since had checked this side’s development, but the Italian has instilled fluency.
Poor Lorik Cana, out of position and out of sorts, crumpled amid the onslaught. Nicolas Anelka scorched the Albanian, whose only consolation was that Didier Drogba had not been present to inflict more trauma.
Chelsea were Arsenal-like in their dissection of the visitors and, even without Drogba, they retained their ruthlessness. Ashley Cole’s cushioned touch and finish were stunning in their execution, Anelka’s double was poached expertly. Florent Malouda was precise from the edge of the box, Frank Lampard well positioned to register his two rewards, and Joe Cole’s delivery for Michael Ballack’s header simply glorious. They also struck the woodwork twice, with Marton Fulop denying them further goals.
It is Ancelotti’s timing which is impressive. Chelsea were supposed to be at their most vulnerable with four players absent at the Africa Cup of Nations. January was to be their blip, an opportunity for the chasing pack to swallow them up.
Yet their awkward patch arrived prematurely – December yielded nine points from a possible 18 – but went rather forgotten as all but Arsenal proved just as slack.
Senior figures within the hierarchy have been impressed that, during that stodgy period last month, the manager did not feel compelled to alter his approach radically. Instead Ancelotti remained calm, convinced in his own qualities and those of his players, to hoist them from the mid-season lull.
A year ago Luiz Felipe Scolari was clinging to his position at the club by his fingernails, reliant upon a winner plucked from the dregs of a fraught encounter with Stoke to temper the humiliation endured a few days previously at Old Trafford.
Then the whisperings behind the scenes were of gathering disquiet. These days, they are of a sense of unity and growing conviction. “Whoever finishes above this lot will win the league,” said Steve Bruce.
Sunderland’s campaign, in contrast, appears to be on the wane. This capitulation did not reflect on this team’s capabilities, with four centre halves either injured or suspended and their most abrasive midfielder crocked, but they have now gone eight games without a league win and recovering from such a hiding will not be straightforward. Bruce admitted his side had been “inept”, Cana leaving “shocked”, and there is the hint of a relegation battle ahead.
“We simply couldn’t cope,” said the Sunderland manager, the goals scored by Bolo Zenden and, in stoppage time, Darren Bent washed away in Chelsea’s torrent.
