Chelsea starlet Daniel Sturridge showed Fernando
Torres exactly how to do it with an outrageous strike
in a 2-1 win over Sunderland.
With the £50 million man sitting on the bench,
Sturridge produced an outrageous back-heeled finish
to wrap up a comfortable victory at the Stadium of Light.
Skipper John Terry had opened the scoring with an 18th-minute
shot after Juan Mata's free-kick had hit the woodwork,
but it was left to the former Manchester City man to
complete the job in style six minutes after the break
with substitute Ji Dong-won's injury-time strike counting
for little.
The win extended the Blues' uneaten start to the season
and left Sunderland still looking for their first victory
and having scored only two goals in five games.
That statistic will not have been lost on the club's
fans as news of Asamoah Gyan's loan move to United Arab
Emirates club Al-Ain emerged shortly before kick-off,
although they will have been buoyed by Nicklas Bendtner's
performance on his debut in front of a crowd of 36,699.
All the talk in the hours immediately prior to the
game was about strikers and in particular, two who were
not involved this afternoon.
Gyan's departure will no doubt have been a topic of
conversation between Steve Bruce, Niall Quinn and Ellis
Short as manager, chairman and owner met on the pitch
before kick-off, and when the team-sheet arrived, Torres,
who had scored just once in his previous 21 appearances
for Chelsea, was named only among the substitutes.
The upshot was that Bendtner made his first appearance
for the Black Cats playing as a lone striker and not
alongside the Ghana international, while Juan Mata,
Nicolas Anelka and Sturridge lined up in attack for
the visitors, for whom Raul Meireles made his debut.
Sunderland might have got off to the perfect start
with just 12 minutes gone when Bendtner got his header
to a Sebastian Larsson free-kick, but glanced the ball
agonisingly wide with keeper Petr Cech rooted to the
spot.
However, that proved a rare excursion into enemy territory
until a late flurry as Chelsea dominated possession
and created a series of chances.
Mata was a livewire as he and full-back Ashley Cole
exploited space down the left with Meireles and Frank
Lampard prompting from the middle.
The opening goal arrived with 18 minutes gone, although
it did so in slightly controversial circumstances with
Lee Cattermole unhappy with Anelka's reaction to his
challenge 20 yards out.
Mata curled the free-kick over the wall and saw it
come back off the post with keeper Simon Mignolet beaten.
But the Black Cats failed to make the most of their
escape and when the ball was eventually recycled to
Terry beyond the far post, he fired in a shot which
was blocked, but Phil Bardsley could only help his follow-up
into the roof of the net.
Anelka and Ramires both went close as the Londoners
eased into top gear, and it took good blocks from Mignolet
and Wes Brown to deny the Frenchman.
Bardsley was fortunate to escape without punishment
after he appeared to stamp on Mata as the clock ran
down and may yet have to face the repercussions, although
his side finished the half in positive fashion.
Stephane Sessegnon forced Cech to beat away a well-struck
shot at his near post and Larsson mistimed a header
from Kieran Richardson's injury-time cross to at least
suggest the contest was not over.
Craig Gardner headed tamely at Cech from another Richardson
cross as Sunderland resumed in determined fashion, but
the game was effectively over within six minutes as
Chelsea hit back.
Anelka had already fired wide after running away from
Titus Bramble and Cattermole was relieved to see a volleyed
clearance from Cole's cross fly over his own crossbar
when the visitors doubled their lead.
Meireles' ball over the top allowed Sturridge to run
away from Brown and as Mignolet came to meet him, he
audaciously back-heeled his shot past him and into the
bottom corner with the former Manchester United defender's
efforts to keep it out coming to nothing.
Sunderland might have reduced the deficit with 25 minutes
to play when Branislav Ivanovic made a mess of clearing
Jack Colback's left-wing cross and the ball fell to
Bendtner, but Terry was on hand to block his shot at
source.
Anelka forced a 73rd-minute save from Mignolet as the
visitors eased into cruise control, and although Ji
side-footed home at the death to give the home side
some reward for their efforts, the points were safe.
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