Sunderland 3-1

Independent:

Fernando Torres shows evidence that Rafael Benitez effect is working for Chelsea with win at Sunderland

Sunderland 1 Chelsea 3: Under-fire striker scores twice to silence critics after confidence boost from his new manager

Martin Hardy

Four minutes before half-time, Fernando Torres misplaced a pass. There were no embarrassed groans from the Chelsea fans sat high behind the Sunderland goal. There were no jeers or catcalls from the home fans, who were angry at just about everything else. There were no songs mocking the amount Torres has cost, and there have been plenty of them since he moved from Anfield to Stamford Bridge for £50 million nearly two years ago.

It was as big an indication as there has been that the soundtrack to his Chelsea career is beginning to change. He scored twice against Nordsjaelland on Wednesday but again, the backdrop was to failure; failure to mount a reasonable defence of their Champions' League title, the failure of Nordsjaelland to be any good. Only in the stat count from Rafa Benitez, Chelsea's manager, was there any indication that they had played well, more than 30 shots he stated.
They were really good again yesterday. Torres was really good as well. Benitez put three Chelsea players alongside Torres and it worked. At times they really were 4-2-4.
Torres has had support from the boardroom since his move, he has had varying degrees of support from inside the Chelsea dugout, but yesterday he had support on the pitch, in the structure of the team.
The theory has been that he needs to be isolated to play well, to have the freedom to play on the last defender, but that argument looked nonsense against Sunderland. Victor Moses was just about a right winger, Juan Mata his strike partner and Eden Hazard a left winger. Every single Sunderland defender was occupied from the first minute, when Seb Larsson grabbed hold of the shirt of Hazard following a superb pass from Mata. It should have been a penalty, but it was a sign of intention.
The 3,000 Chelsea fans repeatedly sang their new manager's name: "We don't care about Rafa, he don't care about us." It rang from the 10th minute right through to the final, closing stages of the game.
Torres was the most clinical player on the pitch. His opening goal, which came after 11 minutes, was excellent. It was also indicative of Chelsea at their most fluent. Moses played a fine pass down the Chelsea left to Hazard. The Belgian had the time to bring the ball back on to his right foot and he crossed perfectly for Torres, who arrived at pace to volley cleverly into Simon Mignolet's goal.
Chelsea were then excellent but Sunderland fought well. For a period during the first half, Adam Johnson gave glimpses of the sort of qualities he was signed to produce. It roused the crowd, a point Martin O'Neill, the hosts' managers, referred to after a defeat that moved his side into the bottom three.
But Chelsea showed a lot of the characteristics that could yet make the challenge for the Premier League title an affair that exists outside of Manchester. They stood strong and, in the second of the two minutes of first-half injury time, Torres scored again. Benitez must have said the word confidence about 10 times after this victory. When Larsson needlessly slid in and fouled Ramires on the corner of the Sunderland penalty area, there were three possible penalty takers for Chelsea – David Luiz, Hazard and Torres. Intriguingly, revealed Benitez, it is the players' choice whenever a penalty is awarded as to who takes it.
Hazard had missed one in mid-week which moved him off top spot, but it was still a sign of his growing belief that Torres took hold of the ball to calmly stroke the penalty into the Sunderland goal. The Spaniard had previously never taken a penalty for an English side. Three minutes into the second half, when Phil Bardsley's heavy touch took the ball into the path of Torres, 18 yards from Mignolet's goal, Torres immediately cracked a shot off the Sunderland crossbar and, from the rebound, Mata scored Chelsea's third.
"I have said before if the team played well and create chances for Fernando he will score goals," said Benitez. "The team were doing really well in the first half.
"We showed the character and we can create chances. Yes, you could see players with confidence, he was one of those players. He knows the movement I want from him. We are watching a Fernando with more confidence.
"The team are more confident, with the quality we have, we will win more games. We need to show on the pitch what we are showing on the training pitch. We are creating a lot of chances. That is positive for the future. We will create chances and score goals."
Sunderland did score, in the 66th minute, when Johnson smashed a shot past Petr Cech. They rallied and the players were applauded off by their supporters despite the defeat. They will need that kind of backing on Tuesday night, when they face fellow strugglers Reading.
"We played very strongly," said O'Neill. "The players put a in a big effort and it was appreciated by the crowd. We were defeated but it feels like we've taken something from the game to take into Tuesday's game."

Sunderland (4-4-1-1): Mignolet; Bardsley (Colback, 67), O'Shea, Cuellar, Rose; Johnson, Larsson (Saha, 82), Gardner, McClean; Sessegnon; Wickham.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole; Ramires, Romeu (Oscar, 20); Moses (Bertrand, 62), Mata, Hazard (Lampard, 79); Torres.

Referee: Mark Halsey.
Man of the match: Torres (Chelsea)
Match rating: 7/10


=========================

Observer

Chelsea's Fernando Torres rediscovers form to see off Sunderland
Louise Taylor at the Stadium of Light

Sunderland is not renowned as a holiday resort but Chelsea must have found their trip to Wearside as restorative and reinvigorating as any visit to a swanky health spa.
If Fernando Torres's game remains in convalescence, powerful hints of a full recovery were contained in the two goals scored by the Spain striker and the other he created for Juan Mata.
By the time Adam Johnson finally answered back for Sunderland and Martin O'Neill prompted a mini-revival by moving the excellent Danny Rose from left-back into central midfield, it was far too late to spoil Rafael Benítez's evening.
Chelsea's latest manager headed to Newcastle airport to catch the team's charter flight to the World Club Championship in Japan, celebrating the first Premier League win of a hitherto extremely uncomfortable Stamford Bridge tenure.
While this was far from a vintage Chelsea performance – Sunderland have won only two of their past 23 Premier League games and appear destined for a relegation battle – he and Torres suggested they are not exactly the busted flushes of popular imagination. On Saturday morning Torres was described as about one thousand times worse a striker than his former Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba. The Sunderland defence might have begged to differ after he expertly volleyed Chelsea into an early lead following a sublime move featuring Victor Moses's pass and an Eden Hazard cross.
Admittedly this could be described as a mixed 90 minutes from Torres but, quite apart from his first league goals since early October, there were definite purple patches replete with exhilarating movement, acceleration and shooting. With a little more luck, he could easily have completed a treble.
It may be too early to talk confidently about "Fernando's rebirth" but his performance can certainly be interpreted as that of a forward emerging from a lengthy hibernation.
Benítez's believes he will once again coax the best out of the striker he turned into a £50m player at Liverpool but the task is complicated by Chelsea's lack of through-ball specialists in the Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard moulds.
Oriol Romeu's audition for the role ended abruptly when the midfielder limped off with knee trouble. With well under a quarter of the game gone it was too early to liberate the newly fit-again Frank Lampard from the bench so Oscar jogged on and into an unfamiliar holding role alongside Ramires in the visiting 4-2-3-1 formation.
It took nearly half an hour for Petr Cech to be forced into his first real save but it was a good one, involving the diversion of Stéphane Sessègnon's stinging shot for a corner. If O'Neill felt a brief glimmer of optimism it was erased shortly before half-time when Sebastian Larsson's awkward, needless tackle on Ramires resulted in a penalty. Torres, suddenly exuding confidence from every pore, stepped forward to send Simon Mignolet the wrong way.
The Spain striker very nearly completed a hat-trick shortly after half-time. Connecting with the ball after Moses's cross bounced off Phil Bardsley's knee, he unleashed a brilliant, high velocity volley that hit the junction of post and bar. With Mignolet wrong-footed, the excellent Mata stroked the rebound into the back of the net.
If Mata's art is making exceptionally difficult manoeuvres look simple – not to mention ensuring there is a point to everything he does – Sunderland's Johnson has spent the past few months making heavy weather of the most straightforward situations but he offered a few hints that, like Torres, he may be on the road to recovery. Johnson at least made the scoresheet, shooting from a tight angle.
Chelsea's defence seemed to read it initially as a cross and so, unwisely, did Cech, who watched the ball fly into the top corner. Perhaps even more encouraging than this spot of deficit reduction, Johnson's willingness to run at players, Ashley Cole in particular, suggested that maybe, just maybe, the £10m handed to Manchester City in exchange for his services last summer was not wasted.
O'Neill's cause still looked pretty hopeless but his tactical rejig proved so inspired that Chelsea experienced a few wobbles. Rose, on loan from Tottenham, has been Sunderland's best player this season and his relocation to the hub of the action was integral to the home team's suddenly much-improved possession. With Rose pulling the strings, Sunderland were finally able to keep the ball and use it incisively. So much so that Cech was required to be at his best to save Johnson's free-kick and, then Connor Wickham's shot. Maybe the dynamic midfielder they have been missing all term was hiding at full back all along.
Sensing danger, Benítez replaced Hazard, who had faded with Lampard and the thoughts of Sunderland supporters began drifting towards Tuesday night's home game with Reading. Lose that one and O'Neill will face some extremely serious questions.


=======================


Telegraph:

Sunderland 1 Chelsea 3
By Luke Edwards

With Chelsea stepping up their efforts to sign a new striker in the new year this was the timeliest reminder of what Fernando Torres can do. At long last.
Four goals in two appearances in four days is an impressive return although it is a moot point as to which team he faced were worse: Danish champions FC Nordsjaelland in the Champions League or the ragbag of Sunderland who dropped into the bottom three with this defeat.
Martin O’Neill’s men were subjected to a Spanish inquisition. Two goals from Torres and another from Juan Mata resulted in a first Premier League victory, at the fourth attempt, for interim manager Rafael Benítez. Who knows, he may even outlast O’Neill.
The Sunderland manager will cling to the effort his players put in but they are desperately short of belief, quality and without the injured Steven Fletcher, a cutting edge. They flickered into life only when they fell behind.
At the Stadium of Light their deficiencies were illuminated – although Adam Johnson, at least, had his best game since joining Sunderland for £10  million in the summer.
Tuesday’s meeting with Reading is now a hugely significant fixture. Failure to win that and it will be an undeniable crisis, underlined in neon.
“It’s a really tough fight,” O’Neill said. “We got some fantastic results last season and it seemed by mid-February we had calmly taken ourselves out of relegation problems. I never saw it like that, every game was a fight and it’s like that now for us. We will fight our way out of it and we’ve got enough talent and enough self-belief.”
Benítez also spoke of belief. “If the team plays well and creates chances then Fernando will score goals,” he said, claiming that “confidence” is returning both individually and collectively. “You can see players with more confidence and they know what to do. Fernando is one of those players. Little by little we are adjusting things and we have more confidence we will win more games.”
Torres even took — and scored — a penalty. Remarkably it was his first ever in the Premier League and the sight of him wanting to take the ball and beat the keeper was another indicator, according to Benítez, that he is rediscovering his mojo. “The positive thing is he wanted to take it,” he said.
For Chelsea there was the boon of not just Torres’s goals but, as they flew out to Japan last night for the Club World Cup, the return of Frank Lampard after his six-week injury absence. However, yesterday Oriol Romeu was sidelined with a damaged knee.
How things changed in Lampard’s absence as Chelsea endured their worst league run for 18 years. This was their first win in eight. Even the venom towards Benítez subsided a little yesterday. There were chants for Roberto Di Matteo and a new one from the travelling Chelsea fans. “We don’t care about Rafa, we don’t care about us. All we care about is Chelsea FC,” they repeatedly sang.
“In this column I’m not going to dwell on the football. We all know we should be higher up the table,” Sunderland owner Ellis Short wrote in his programme notes, sounding an ominously defeatist note before his club were indeed defeated. They have lost 15 of their last 16 meetings with Chelsea. Maybe those Chelsea fans should be singing “can we play you every week”.
Torres would concur. But then not all Premier League defences rely on as lumbering a pair as John O’Shea and Carlos Cuéllar, who set the tone for the defensive chaos that ensued as early as the sixth minute when the former’s header cannoned off the latter, only for the rebound to land straight at Torres’s feet. Clear on goal he tried to go around Simon Mignolet but was dispossessed.
Another opportunity wasted by Torres. But then he scored a fine goal. Chelsea broke rapidly with Torres outmuscling Cuéllar before Victor Moses found Eden Hazard down the left. He cut inside and picked out Torres who stole in at the near post to steer his volley past Mignolet. It was over in a blue blur.
Sunderland finally gathered a head of steam and Petr Cech had to push out Stephane Sessegnon’s shot from distance but, on the stroke of half-time, Chelsea added a second. Ramires burst into the area but was running out of pitch — only for Sebastian Larsson to launch himself, needlessly, at the midfielder, bringing him down.
Hazard had missed a penalty in midweek, David Luiz had scored one but this time Torres stepped up and coolly sidefooted home his second goal.
He also had a significant role in Chelsea’s third, which owed more to defensive disorganisation with Phil Bardsley making a hash of clearing Moses’s cross. Torres’s snapshot was powerful, it rattled the bar and the rebound dropped to Mata who easily beat Mignolet with a low shot.
Despite the brio of Chelsea’s attacking play, they remained flaky in defence. Sunderland sensed this and the ball was ferried out wide to Johnson. His cross-shot was misjudged by Cech, who pulled his hands away, only for the ball to end up in the net.
Chelsea were then indebted to Cech for sharp saves – pushing away Johnson’s free-kick as it arrowed towards the top corner and then turning Connor Wickham’s low shot away.
In injury-time another free-kick, this time from Craig Gardner, struck the crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten. A goal then would have distorted the scoreline.


========================

Times:

Sunderland 1 Chelsea 3: Torres at the double
Ron Clarke

 THE Chelsea brand has been battered and bruised in recent days but here they had the luxury of passing the baton of gloom on to a woeful Wearside.
 For interim manager Rafael Benitez it was a sweet interval in what has been a sour start to his short tenure. He was able to taste a league victory for the first time in four attempts, coupled with the rare sight of Fernando Torres in free-scoring mode.
 Yes, the striker who had not scored in his previous eight Premier League games — more than 750 goalless minutes — had hit the net twice by the interval and then saw his shot rebound off the bar for Juan Mata to slam home the third immediately after the restart. And it was game over. Benitez’s first win was in the bag long before his team left the North East last night for the Far East.

The Chelsea interim manager said: “Fernando Torres is now playing with confidence and belief and the same can be said of the team. We are now more compact and more a unit and creating a lot more chances.”
 They now have a temporary diversion from domestic duties as they compete in the World Club Championsip in Japan. How Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill would relish similar respite. This week is the first anniversary of his taking charge. When he arrived Sunderland were one point above the relegation zone. One year on the dreaded drop looks even nearer as they are now in the bottom three. Progress? What progress ?
 It started badly even before kick-off with top scorer Steven Fletcher withdrawn through injury and replaced by teenager Connor Wickham. They were also without captain Lee Cattermole, sidelined for at least a couple of months. Chelsea were unchanged from that hollow 6-1 demolition of Nordsjaelland, not enough to save them from being the first holders to be dumped out the Champions League at the group stage.
 The early action gave a hint of what was to come. In the opening seconds Eden Hazard appeared to be pulled back inside the area and then seconds later Mata pulled a cross across goal rather than go for a direct shot.
 It was only a momentary lapse as on 12 minutes Hazard sent in the ball from the left flank for Torres to divert a side-foot volley straight into the net. David Luiz fired a free kick over and Oscar, on for the limping Oriol Romeu, volleyed just off target as the pressure continued. A scrambled clearance from a Carlos Cuellar shot was the closest the hosts came.
 Then, with virtually the last kick of the half, they conceded again. Sebastian Larsson slid into Ramires and Torres slotted home the resulting penalty.
 Any chance of a comeback was extinquished within seconds of the restart with Mata driving home the rebound from Torres’s shot. The rest of the game was pretty uneventful, Chelsea sitting back and Sunderland lacking the creativity or cutting edge to find a way through.
 The Wearsiders did have the consolation of the game’s outstanding goal on 66 minutes. From long range, Adam Johnson, at last showing glimpses of the form that won him selection to the England team, delivered a thunderous long range drive that swerved past Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal. Craig Grardner also crashed a free-kick against the bar in injury time. For Chelsea, Frank Lampard made a late appearance.
 O’Neill said afterwards: “It is tough but we will fight our way out of it. We have enough talent and, more importantly, self belief to pull through this. It is frustrating. Every game is a fight for us but when it comes to a football match we have to make it count. We need to get some points and we need to get a win.”

Sunderland: Mignolet 6, Bardsley 6 (Colback 66min), O’Shea 6, Cuellar 6, Rose 5, Larsson 6 (Saha 81min), Gardner 6, Johnson 7, McClean 6, Sessegnon 6, Wickham 5

Chelsea: Cech 6, Ivanovic 6, Cole 6, Luiz 6, Cahill 6, Romeu 6 (Oscar 20min 6), Ramires 6, Mata 7, Moses 7 (Bertrand 61min), Hazard 8 (Lampard 79min), Torres 7


============================


Mail:

Sunderland 1 Chelsea 3: Smiling Torres at the double as Benitez wins first league game

By Rob Draper

It was always all about Fernando. When Rafa Benitez was appointed Chelsea manager, to outright hostility from supporters, there was plenty on his CV to suggest that it was a rational decision, but none of it more compelling than his work with Torres at Liverpool.
And while there is more to Benitez than the ability to get the best out of his compatriot, if he can spare one of the world's richest men's the humiliation of seeing a £50million investment diminish to nothing, there may well be a job for life at Chelsea. Or a few months, at least.

Because this was a throwback, to the Torres who was once feared around the Premier League. At times he even smiled. It might be said he appeared to be enjoying the game.
And if four goals and a happy Torres is the result of two weeks with Benitez, then the gloom after the new manager's appointment by Roman Abramovich may clear yet.

'It's fair to say we are now watching a Fernando with more confidence and more belief,' said Benitez. 'I said before that if the team play well and create chances, Fernando would score. He knows the movements that I want from him, and the rest of the team know each other well. Little by little we are adjusting things. We have more confidence, and if we have that, with the quality we have, we will win games.'
Indeed. And within two weeks Chelsea could be world champions - they flew to Japan last night immediately after this game - and in the Capital One Cup semi-finals. Life would feel a whole lot better.

While support for former manager Roberto Di Matteo and opposition to Benitez was still vociferous from their fans, the abuse has become laced with a degree of civility. 'We don't care about Rafa … we just care about Chelsea,' they sang.
Equivocation has to be a step up from vilification.That said, one manager's reprieve is another man's condemnation.

While Benitez was spared the worst, Martin O'Neill's Sunderland side slipped into the bottom three.
One victory in nine and the last home win back in late summer tells its own story.
A resilient second-half performance might be enough to give the club, and O'Neill himself, some hope for now.
Certainly the applause at the end from the Stadium of Light was supportive. But defeat by Reading on Tuesday would surely puncture any optimism.

'It's a big game on Tuesday night, and was always going to be,' said O'Neill. 'But we played very, very strongly at times and the players put a big effort in, which was appreciated by the crowd, even though we were defeated.'
From the first minute - when Eden Hazard fed Juan Mata, who appeared to be held back by Sebastian Larsson in the penalty area - this match had the look of a Chelsea win.

Benitez's team were dominant early and it was Torres who shone. Not just the goals, either.
Here was a player making runs, spinning off his man and eager to link up.

On 12 minutes a counter-attack saw Victor Moses making ground, releasing Hazard, who delivered a fine cross from close to the byline, hanging just in front of Torres.
It was an ideal ball to attack and the Spaniard stuck out a foot and directed it into the net with a degree of balance and precision hard to match.
It was his first Premier League goal since October 6. The second was more straightforward.

A needless challenge by Larsson on Ramires, who was heading away from goal and hemmed in, meant an inevitable penalty … and Torres sidefooted it home.
While it is hard to read too much into that, Torres has never been a regular penalty-taker at Chelsea. David Luiz, Hazard or Mata might have been expected to take it.
'For me, the positive thing was that he had confidence to take it,' said Benitez. 'He was saying, "Yeah, I will take it".'

The third goal built the case that here was a player rediscovering his love of the game.

When Phil Bardsley miscontrolled a Moses cross on 47 minutes, Torres pounced, striking instinctively where he has recently dallied.

That the ball struck a post and Mata put in the rebound was immaterial. Here was Torres actually enjoying playing for Chelsea and a broad smile graced his face as he celebrated with his fellow Spaniard.
Chelsea, however, remain fragile, especially in the final half-hour.
Adam Johnson was given too much space by Branislav Ivanovic and his strike on 66 minutes from the edge of the box beat Petr Cech too easily.
Another then might have seen Chelsea wobble, as they did last week at West Ham. But Cech met Johnson's superb free-kick on 76 minutes with a diving save.
In injury-time, Connor Wickham hit a decent strike just wide before Cech touched away Craig Gardner's freekick. But there would be no capitulation this week.
Instead, it was all about Fernando.


======================

Mirror:

Sunderland 1-3 Chelsea

By Brian McNally

Two-up Torres: Spaniard in the goals as Chelsea record first league win of Rafa's reign at Sunderland

Will two victories and nine goals in the space of four days turn the tide Rafa Benitez’s way at Chelsea?
Certainly the first Premier League win of the Benitez era seemed to mute many of his critics in the Blues’ 2,700 travelling support and spread belief throughout a side without a league success since beating Tottenham on October 20. A comfortable victory at the Stadium of Light ended that miserable seven-game run and definitely seems to have given two-goal Fernando Torres a visible confidence boost.
Coming on top of a 6-1 Champions League success over Nordsjaelland – where Torres bagged another brace – it has also clearly done wonders for the side.
Juan Mata added a third early in the second half after the impressive Torres had smashed a shot against the bar.
Adam Johnson’s fine angled effort gave Sunderland a consolation goal before Craig Gardner hit the bar late on.
Benitez says back-to-back wins will give his side great belief when they fly out for the Club World Cup in Japan this week.
He hailed the two-goal contribution of fellow countryman Torres, citing improved confidence as the key to the mini-revival.
Benitez said: “We showed character, more confidence and our movement was much better. It was a convincing display.
“Fernando Torres showed more belief and that was a big help to us. He took his first goal superbly and showed his desire by wanting to take the penalty.
“Now we have a break for the Club World Cup and that will give me a chance to work more closely with the players. It is not ideal to have this break but we must handle it positively.”
Black Cats boss Martin O’Neill felt his side had shown plenty of battling qualities but admits Tuesday’s game with second bottom Reading is now a big relegation battle.
O’Neill, who has seen his side win just twice in 23 games, said: “We had some good spells today but have dropped into the bottom three and now it’s a really tough fight. It is vital we beat Reading.”
With Chelsea now having won 15 of the last 16 clashes against the Wearsiders, history was very much on their side going into the game – and that was the way it worked out.
Chelsea began impressively and went ahead after 11 minutes. Torres evaded Carlos Cuellar before switching the ball to Victor Moses. He quickly fed Eden Hazard, whose cross was volleyed home exquisitely by the Spaniard.
It was his first Premier League goal since early October.
Sunderland responded positively and Stephane Sessegnon fired in a sizzling drive that was turned away by the diving Petr Cech.
But right on the stroke of half-time Chelsea dented their resistance. Seb Larsson should have simply shepherded the ball out of play as Ramires chased it but the Swede slid in when there was no need to and sent his opponent tumbling.
Torres confidently beat Simon Mignolet from the spot. The fact he demanded to take the kick after showing no interest in the two Chelsea were awarded in their midweek Champions League romp was a clear indication his confidence is beginning to return.
The game was effectively over as a contest in the 49th minute when Mata knocked the ball home after Torres rattled the bar when Phil Bardsley made a hash of clearing a Ramires cross.
But Sunderland grabbed a 66th-minute consolation when Johnson received the ball from James McClean on the left edge of the area and blasted a swerving, angled shot beyond the bemused Cech.
Cech then stopped a Johnson thunderbolt and Gardner struck the bar. But it was too little, too late and Chelsea were able to give Frank Lampard a run-out off the bench after six weeks’ absence with a calf injury.


================


Sun:

Sunderland 1 Chelsea 3

By STEVE BRENNER

IT HAS not taken long for Rafa Benitez to achieve something at Chelsea.

After all, getting consistent goalscoring performances out of Fernando Torres is surely the stuff of miracles, all things considered.

Owner Roman Abramovich demanded Benitez get the best out of his beloved £50million flop.

And following on from a Champions League double against Danish no-hopers Nordsjaelland on Wednesday, Spanish hitman Torres was back in the goals again yesterday with his first league goals for over 12 HOURS.

Fellow Spaniard Juan Mata put the icing on the cake in the 49th minute but this was encouraging stuff from Torres.

Is he finally back in the blistering groove of old?

Well, he had a hand in all three goals and led the line well.

Make no mistake, we will probably never again see the Torres who used to skin defenders alive back in his Liverpool days.

Even Rafa would fancy his chances against sides as poor as Sunderland.

But Torres remains a threat nagging away on the shoulder of the last defender — and as long as that is the case in Roman’s mad, mad world, the interim Chelsea boss will remain in the hotseat.
Benitez now heads to Japan for the World Club Championship with a spring in his step after Blues embarrassingly crashed out of the Champions League.

But despite being 3-0 up and coasting early in the second half, the travelling fans were still singing about their obvious dislike for the Spanish chief.

But all he can do is win matches. That is his job.

Abramovich decided to sack blokes who win the Champions League. And it is also the owner who insists Torres must be an integral part of any glory charge.

It had been an arduous, morale sapping, headscratching league drought for the striker.

Torres arrived on Wearside without a top-flight goal since Norwich on October 6 — an excruciating 12hr 19min to be precise.

Yesterday, with 11 minutes on the clock, the Stadium of Light was greeted to a glimpse of the Torres who used to scare defences stiff. The movement, the finish, the striker’s instinct were back with a bang.
Torres looked pretty lively from the off. And so did Chelsea.

The Blues were already dominating a Sunderland side who right now have relegation plastered all over their sorry faces. And when Torres struck, no one could say it was not coming. Eden Hazard found himself on the right and his cross was a beauty.

Torres’ finish was even better.

The ball arrived at waist height but he coolly adjusted himself to stab home.
Benitez was overjoyed for his old amigo. And so were the travelling Blues. A wonderfully ironic rendition of ‘Fernando Torres, he scores when he wants’ was followed by the current Stamford Bridge chart topper ‘One Di Matteo’.

Stephane Sessegnon let rip from 18 yards out, forcing Chelsea’s Petr Cech into a smart stop before Adam Johnson got the bit between his teeth and started to really have a go at Ashley Cole.
Chelsea were starting to rock. Problem is for Sunderland, they have not got the quality to make it count. It is not that Rafa’s men were brilliant in the first half. They were solid and effective without really ripping them apart.

As the first half ticked towards stoppage time, Martin O’Neill would have been relatively happy.

Then disaster struck.

Only Seb Larsson knows why he tried to tackle Ramires from behind in the area rather than just shepherd him out of touch. It was a numbskull moment and Torres made him pay from the spot.

In the 49th minute it was game well and truly over.

Victor Moses’ cross was appallingly controlled by Phil Bardsley and after Torres smacked the bar, Mata gobbled up the rebound.

Johnson pulled one back with a sweet 66th-minute strike. It was a cracker too, a left-foot curler which left Cech with no chance. Local lad Johnson nearly nabbed another with 15 minutes left, only for Cech to brilliantly claw away a swirling free-kick.
But it was too little, too late, yet again for O’Neill’s men, who have a pathetic two wins from 23 Premier League games.

For Rafa, his first trip back to the scene of Darren Bent’s infamous beachball winner in October 2009 worked out well.

Problem is, life is anything but a beach in the Chelsea hotseat.

Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley (Colback 66), Cuellar, O'Shea, Rose, Johnson, Gardner, Larsson (Saha 81), McClean, Sessegnon, Wickham. Subs Not Used: Westwood, Campbell, Kilgallon, Vaughan, Bramble. Booked: Gardner. Goals: Johnson 66.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Ramires, Romeu (Oscar 20), Mata, Moses (Bertrand 61), Hazard (Lampard 79), Torres. Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Ferreira, Marin, Azpilicueta. Booked: Ivanovic, Ramires, Mata. Goals: Torres 11, 45 pen, Mata 49.
Att: 39,273
Ref: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).

=======================

Express:

SUNDERLAND 1 - CHELSEA 3: TWO-GOAL FERNANDO TORRES STARTS UP RAFA BENITEZ'S CHELSEA REVIVAL

By Clive Hetherington


FERNANDO TORRES ended his Premier League goal famine as he rode to the rescue of Rafa Benitez, who celebrated his first top-flight victory as Chelsea boss.
Popular opinion suggests that Spaniard Benitez was chosen as the replacement for the sacked Roberto Di Matteo to get the best out of £50million flop Torres.
 And the signs are it is having the desired effect after the Spain striker came up with two first-half goals – the second a penalty just before the break – before fellow countryman Juan Mata struck three minutes into the second period.
 Torres, who also scored twice in Wednesday’s ultimately useless 6-1 Champions League annihilation of Nordsjaelland at Stamford Bridge, grabbed his first top-flight goal for 12-and-a-half hours and took his season’s haul to ten, as did Mata.
 Chelsea had failed to win in their previous seven league matches, the club’s worst run since season 1994-95 when Glenn Hoddle’s side endured a ten-game streak without winning
This was Benitez’s first top-flight success at the fourth attempt.
 England winger Adam Johnson pulled one back for Sunderland on 65 minutes with a superb left-foot strike that deceived keeper Petr Cech.
 But pressure is building on Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill, whose side has won only twice in 23 Premier League games.
 They are now in the bottom three and defeat at home to Reading on Tuesday is not an option.
 This was a game Chelsea didn’t want, but they won’t be complaining now after beating Sunderland for the 15th time in 16 meetings
The Blues failed in a bid to get their visit to Wearside called off to give them more time to prepare for the Club World Cup in Japan next week.
 But, after becoming the first Champions League holders to fall at the fi rst hurdle, this was the boost Chelsea needed. They began brightly but spurned two chances in the opening four minutes. Eden Hazard was through on goal from Mata’s measured pass, but the Belgian miscontrolled the ball and Simon Mignolet snuffed out the danger.
 Hazard then returned the compliment with a ball to Mata on the right, but when it was delivered across goal, Torres was out of range.
 Torres was then denied by a point-blank stop from Mignolet after John O’Shea’s attempted headed clearance ricocheted back off central defensive partner Carlos Cuellar.
But Torres was in the right place at the right time in the 11th minute.
Victor Moses found Hazard on the left and, when he curled in the cross, Torres reacted first to volley home.
 It didn’t stop the travelling fans from chanting “One Di Matteo’’ as Chelsea maintained the pressure on a Sunderland side clearly missing injured top scorer Steven Fletcher.
 Sunderland gained momentum during a lively first-half spell. Their best opportunity in that period fell to Stephane Sessegnon, whose stinging shot was parried by Cech.
But Torres struck again from the spot, sending Mignolet the wrong way after Sebastian Larsson brought down Ramires.
 Torres and Ramires were instrumental when Mata added a third. Ramires swept in a right-wing centre, Sunderland right-back Phil Bardsley was guilty of a horrible touch and, after Torres’ shot crashed back off the bar, Mata hit home.
 Johnson’s late effort was hardly consolation for the Cats.


===========================