Sunderland 4-3

Independent:

Sunderland 3 Chelsea 4
Eden Hazard makes up for Chelsea generosity
Victory keeps Jose Mourinho's side four points behind Arsenal

MARTIN HARDY

Here is the rub for Jose Mourinho. A quite breathtaking display from a player who did not return in time for training when he popped over to France last month, or the kind of defending you would never picture from one of his teams, and certainly not one with genuine aspirations to win the Premier League title.
The Chelsea manager has that to ponder after another night that reminded everyone it is not his Chelsea; a mismatch of flair and failings that will drive the mechanical mind of Mourniho to distraction.
First, to Hazard, who was quite breathtaking in his role on the left-hand side of the visitors’ front three, tucked behind the once again woeful Fernando Torres. That this game should never have reached its final, mad six minute of extra time with one goal separating the seven scored by both teams lay at the Spaniard’s feet and those of the defenders who proved so susceptible at the three set-pieces from which the home side scored.
Hazard created the first for Frank Lampard, scored the following two that moved Chelsea into a 3-2 lead and was a problem Gus Poyet’s side was incapable of solving.
When Phil Bardsley put into his own goal with six minutes remaining, there appeared a modicum of calm for the visitors, one deserved for Hazard at least, but then the same Sunderland player scored for his own side, from a corner, and there was a desperate finish that had Mourinho bouncing around his technical area in disbelief. By then there was precious little control and only some desperate late defending secured a victory that is, as yet, impossible to quantify in terms of its significance.
Sunderland had scored first, after just 14 minutes. Jozy Altidore took a touch with his back to goal, turned John Terry and fired a shot beyond Petr Cech.
From that point Chelsea took control. Less than three minutes had passed after the goal when a corner ended up on the right side of the Sunderland penalty area, with Hazard. From there he took control of both the ball, and the game, jinking back onto his right foot to cross into the heart of the six yard area before Craig Gardner, his marker, could react. The home defence was similarly caught asleep and Lampard rose unmarked to head in his third Premier League goal in his last three games.
Chelsea moved effortlessly up a gear. Torres shot over the crossbar from 12 yards after Altidore had failed to clear a Juan Mata free-kick. It did not matter, by the 36th minute Chelsea had their lead and Mourinho flicked out an arm in celebration.
This time Hazard did it all on his own, collecting the ball on the touchline, he moved effortlessly before rifling his low drive into the bottom corner of Vito Mannone’s goal.
Sunderland somehow dragged themselves back into the game. A scuffed right wing corner from Emanuele Giaccherini seemed to be touched by Bardsley and then missed by Wes Brown as it went past three defenders in blue shirts. Gary Cahill, who was supposed to be marking John O’Shea lost concentration and he struck a low shot past Cech.
In the 57th minute there was another warning for the home side. They were simply ill equipped to deal with Hazard. Five minutes later he played a one-two with Lampard, took a return pass, and showed Torres how to finish, smashing a right foot shot past Mannone.
Substitute Demba Ba’s low cross, in the 84th minute, was struck into his own goal by Bardsley. Incredibly the defender lost his marker, Ba, from a home corner less than two minutes later to hit Sunderland’s third.

Man of the match Hazard.
Match rating 7/10.
Referee P Dowd (Staffs).
Attendance 40,652.

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Guardian:

Eden Hazard hits double as Chelsea win seven-goal thriller at Sunderland
John Wardle at the Stadium of Light

José Mourinho's usual reluctance to single out players was abandoned after Eden Hazard ensured it was business as usual for Chelsea at Sunderland.
Hazard was the inspiration behind Chelsea's ninth successive victory on Wearside – equalling the top division's record of consecutive away wins against the same opponents, a record that Chelsea already hold.
The Belgian scored twice and created another goal for Frank Lampard, prompting a remarkable degree of praise from his manager.
"We were creative and dynamic when we had the ball – and we had a special Hazard," Mourinho said. "Normally I don't like to praise a player but from the first minute Eden was amazing. He has a great talent but sometimes he does incredible things then disappears from the game. Tonight he was fantastic from the first to the last minute.
"Last season he did something similar but to my mind this was his best performance for me. He was taking on defenders and shooting. Sometimes he creates a lot and doesn't shoot, but tonight his performance was fantastic."
Gus Poyet, the Sunderland manager, who spent three seasons as a player at Chelsea, could only concur. "Hazard was unplayable," he said. "I can't remember a player performing at that level against me as a manager. We doubled up and tripled up on him."
Chelsea needed such an impressive performance from one of their players because this victory was not as straightforward as other successes during their dominance on Wearside.
Jozy Altidore and John O'Shea exposed failings in Chelsea's defence with goals, while Phil Bardsley was also on target with their third just two minutes after scoring Chelsea's fourth in his own goal.
Sunderland went back to the bottom of the Premier League 24 hours earlier when Crystal Palace won and they stay there after this setback but they were ahead within 14 minutes through Altidore. With a confidence that was not warranted by his solitary goal this season, the American international took advantage of the generous space he was given by Gary Cahill to turn and score in the bottom corner.
Chelsea's only attacking response in the opening stages was a wayward shot from Lampard, who was to score the equaliser in the 17th minute in a manner that would have concerned Poyet, whose reaction to his team's goal had been subdued.
Perhaps the man who played 110 times for Chelsea sensed what lay ahead because Sunderland's defence was opened up alarmingly as Lampard was left unmarked in front of goal to head in Hazard's cross.
Chelsea led from the 36th minute through Hazard. This time, he only needed the distraction of an overlap from César Azpilicueta, again keeping out Ashley Cole, to enable him to cut inside two opponents and finish decisively from the edge of the area.
Poyet is building a solid team spirit at Sunderland, however, and they hit back within five minutes of the restart. Again, they were assisted by a lack of concentration from Chelsea's defence as they failed to deal with a miscued corner from Emanuele Giaccherini.
Two Chelsea players had an opportunity to clear before the ball found its way to O'Shea, whose shot on the turn beat Cech from near the penalty spot.
They should have been level for only six minutes, but Torres wasted a glorious chance, shooting over after Hazard's shot was beaten out by Mannone.
Torres, the last striker to score an away goal for Chelsea in the league – a year ago at Sunderland – was soon substituted, but by then they were ahead again through a gem of a goal.
Lampard and Hazard again combined superbly in the 62nd minute, with the England international's backheel setting up Hazard for another decisive finish. Chelsea's fourth goal was put into his own net by Bardsley, who made amends within two minutes when he scored at the other end to set up a tense climax as Chelsea coped with intense pressure from Sunderland before securing that ninth win in a row at the Stadium of Light.
While Mourinho was fully justified in his praise for Hazard, his analysis of his team's performance at the back was less convincing.
He said: "We played very well defensively, we had no problem in handling the situation, but we conceded three goals. When we play so well and score four goals away, you have to win but we were in trouble until the last seconds. You can concede one goal, but to concede three is a negative thing about a brilliant performance.
"It is very difficult to play the way we did, create so much and score so many goals. I can't even blame the defensive game of the team because we defended very well.
"There were rebounds here and there and we lost a man here and there, but the performance collectively was fantastic."

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Telegraph:
Sunderland 3 Chelsea 4

By Luke Edwards, at the Stadium of Light
This was as close as you can get to a one-man victory in a team sport. Eden Hazard secured a win for Chelsea they persistently threatened to throw away against a vibrant Sunderland side who are already fighting for top-flight survival.
Hazard was superb, breathtaking and virtually unplayable at times. He created one goal, an equaliser for Frank Lampard after Sunderland had taken the lead through Jozy Altidore, and added his name to the scoresheet with two sublime individual efforts that combined bewitching dribbling ability with clinical finishing.
Every time Chelsea looked in trouble in the match, which was more often than the scoreline suggests, Hazard got them out of it.
For £25 million, Chelsea may have wanted more from their Belgium international at times since he arrived from Lille, but they also felt they were buying a young player with the potential to become one of the world’s best. His display on a cold, unwelcoming night in the North East has done much to reinforce that view, although it was a collective display that once again hinted at Chelsea’s vulnerable side.
Their defending at set-pieces was shockingly bad, allowing Sunderland to score at the start of either half. Even when Chelsea appeared to have made the three points safe after Phil Bardsley’s own goal, they switched off again, allowing the same man to score a third for the Black Cats. That set up a tense finale which could well have yielded an equaliser for their hosts.
The result, though, was all that mattered and Chelsea are gathering momentum at the start of a pivotal period. Premier League campaigns are not won in December but many decisive battles are during such a frantic period of matches.
Had Chelsea not taken all three points here, it would have been a self-inflicted wound that would have taken a long time to heal. Instead of a limp, Jose Mourinho’s men left for London with a spring in their step and they will believe they are good enough to catch leaders Arsenal. But it was not quite the stuff of champions on Wearside.
Chelsea started slowly and Sunderland swarmed all over them. Champions are able to ride early storms like these in front of noisy home support, but Chelsea did not.
Nevertheless, as nice as it would be to say Sunderland’s first goal was a well-worked free-kick routine, it owed more to good fortune than preparation. Andrea Dossena tried to sneak a low free-kick under a jumping wall of Chelsea players and failed. The rebound fell to Jack Colback, who side-footed a first-time pass to Jozy Altidore. The American has played 12 times in the Premier League for Sunderland and failed to score, but he finished clinically. Not that he should have been given the time and space to control the ball with one touch and lash it past Petr Cech on the turn with his second.
That gave Chelsea the kick up the posterior they needed. Cutting through Sunderland with their quick passing, Hazard made a fool of Craig Gardner out wide before crossing delicately for Frank Lampard to meet with a header.
As spirited as they were and as improved as they are under Gus Poyet, Sunderland are bottom of the table because they have severe limitations and they were exposed by Hazard. Picking the ball up on the left, he danced past a couple of defenders and smashed a shot into the far corner from 20 yards.
Chelsea appeared to have repaired the damage done by their early lethargy, but they undid their good work at the start of the second half. There is no way an unthreatening low corner should have found its way into the middle of the area through a crowd of bodies at the near post, allowing John O’Shea to smash in Sunderland’s second.
Once again Chelsea’s offensive players were needed to remedy the situation and Fernando Torres should have scored his side’s third goal, after more excellent Hazard work, but he lifted a shot high into the stands.
Torres looked to the heavens. Chelsea looked to Hazard. Sunderland deployed two defenders to cope with his dribbling ability, but Hazard passed around them thanks to a Lampard back-heel, wrong-footed O’Shea and fired past Mannone.

Match details

Sunderland (4-1-4-1) Mannone; Bardsley, O’Shea, Brown, Dossena; Ki; Giaccherini (Johnson 65), Gardner (Fletcher 80), Colback (Larsson 57), Borini; Altidore.
Subs Pickford, Celustka, Roberge, Cattermole.
Booked Bardsley, Dossena, Colback.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Lampard; Mata (Mikel 81), Willian (Schürrle 90), Hazard; Torres (Ba 65).
Subs Schwarzer, Cole, Essien, De Bruyne.
Booked Ramires, Hazard, Willian.
Referee P Dowd (Staffordshire).

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Mail:

Sunderland 3 Chelsea 4: Hazard fires title warning with brace in seven-goal thriller

By COLIN YOUNG

There may be nearly a division between Chelsea and Sunderland but on Wednesday night one man was the difference between two sides fighting at opposite ends of the Barclays Premier League.
Gus Poyet knows an unplayable figure in Chelsea colours when he sees one and Eden Hazard produced his finest display for Jose Mourinho to keep Chelsea right in the title hunt.
‘We had a special Hazard,’ said the Chelsea boss. ‘That was his best for me. He showed ambition from the first minute to the last.
‘Sometimes he does incredible things, then he disappears from the game, a bit like a kid enjoying it. Today he was fantastic throughout. So was Mata.’
This was a Hazard warning to  Chelsea’s title rivals, but Mourinho’s side did it the hard way, overcoming a second-half Sunderland revival to secure the points.

That was of some consolation to Poyet, who had hoped to mark the 13th anniversary of his  first game on Wearside — a 4-1  Sunderland win over Chelsea — with another victory.
‘Hazard was unplayable,’ admitted Poyet. ‘I don’t remember another player performing at this level against me as a manager. It was spectacular. We tried everything — doubling up,  tripling up. We even changed the wide man. It was a great display.’
There was an element of fortune about Sunderland’s opener, and a hint of untidy defending from John Terry after the Chelsea defence had failed to clear a free-kick on 14 minutes.
Andrea Dossena’s weak shot barely reached the Chelsea wall, but it bounced into the path of Jack Colback, who poked the ball back into the area to the feet of Jozy Altidore.

With Terry at his back, he gathered the ball, turned and drilled his shot past Cech. It was Altidore’s first goal in eight Premier League starts and 12 appearances, and may force a re-write for the Sunderland supporters who chant ‘Jozy Altidore, he’s never going to score, why, why, why?’ But the lead lasted less than four minutes.
This time it was Sunderland who failed to clear a set piece, although there appeared little danger when Mata’s corner flew over a packed area and out to Ki Sung Yeung.
His pass only found Hazard and the Belgian breezed past Craig Gardner before chipping a neat cross from the by-line into the throng. It found Frank Lampard, who lost his marker Dossena and nodded into the ground past the stranded Vito Mannone.
Chelsea cranked up the pressure and nearly made it 2-1 at a corner when Altidore failed to get enough purchase on his clearance and a bouncing ball landed at the feet of Fernando Torres, who drilled a half-volley over the bar.
The Spain striker was then denied by John O’Shea’s excellent tackle from behind after the pair had chased Lampard’s wonderful pass from  mid-way inside his own half.
There was no mistake from Hazard, however, on 36 minutes.
Cech’s punt forward was headed up by Torres and Hazard gathered the loose ball. He took half a dozen touches with his right foot, skipped inside Gardner and Phil Bardsley, then  drilled a shot across goal and out of Mannone’s despairing reach.
Sunderland equalised immediately after the re-start when Chelsea failed to clear another untidy corner from Giaccherini, whose under-hit set pieces were causing consternation among home supporters.
The ball bounced around the area until it fell at the feet of O’Shea, who fired a snap-shot past the exposed Cech from close range to make it 2-2.
Such was Chelsea’s anxiety that Torres was booked by Phil Dowd for attempting to referee the game, after Colback had somehow escaped a  sending-off for his second blatant trip on the excellent Willian.
Perhaps Torres would have been  better off concentrating on his own job. He fluffed his best chance when the ball fell at his feet after Mannone had spilled a routine effort from Hazard.
To the relief of Mourinho and Chelsea, Hazard made no mistake when he was presented with his next chance.And Chelsea’s fourth goal came six minutes from the end, just after Poyet had thrown on striker Steven Fletcher in a bid to find another equaliser.
It came from Ba’s cross, which Bardsley inexplicably slid into his own net.
Bardsley promptly made it 4-3 after more Chelsea dithering at a corner, but despite throwing centre back O’Shea up front and piling forward throughout six minutes of added time, Sunderland could not find another way back.
Poyet said: ‘If we can play like that, fight like that, we will stay in the Premier League. I am proud of my players although still hurting because we lost. Chelsea had to work hard to take three points and that makes me proud.’

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Mirror:

Sunderland 3-4 Chelsea: Mourinho hails ''special'' Eden Hazard as Blues win seven-goal thriller

By Simon Bird

The Belgian winger scored twice as Jose Mourinho's side recovered from a slow start for the second time in a week
Hazard warning: The winger was in devastating form on Wednesday
Jose Mourinho thanked a "special Hazard" and inisted Chelsea's win was their best away show of the season - despite conceding sloppy goals.
Eden Hazard's brilliant individual double helped conjure a victory, in a performance that threw up some worrying questions, as well as three points.
Belgian star Hazard's second goal was breathtaking, aided by a sublime Frank Lampard back heal, serving notice Chelsea can live with the best in the league when it comes to fantastic skill. Sunderland boss Gus Poyet labelled Hazard "unplayable".
But leaking three goals against bottom of the table Sunderland is a concern, as the defence fell asleep at set pieces.
Mourinho was concentrating on the positives of a thrilling performance with some sublime moments. He said: "It was by far our best away performance. We played fantastic football. We created, we were dynamic. We had a special Hazard. Also Mata played a fantastic match."
"We played a phenomenal game. Top quality. Building up well, great creativity. Beautiful goals. But it is also about basic things and we failed in the basic things of the game. Which is the most basic thing of defending set plays. We know the positions, we have players to defend spaces, some to defend a man, and we failed. In a game we should win clearly, we risked it until the last second.
"Sunderland, good team, good football, good spirit amazing crowd. But we played so, so well that we should not have arrived into injury time in the situation we were in.
"It was Hazard's best performance for me. the ambition from first to last was for me the first time. Sometimes he does incredible things ten disappears from the game. A bit like a kid enjoying it. Today he was fantastic throughout. Fantastic."
Hazard and Frank Lampard hauled Chelsea back into the game with a goal each in the first half after Jozy Altidore's opener. First Lampard netted his fifth of the season with a close range header, after Mata dinked in an inviting cross.
Then Hazard powered home from 20 yards, after skipping past three defenders.
Chelsea couldn't settle though, and after the break John O'Shea levelled the game at 2-2 with a deflected volley from a poorly defended corner.
Then came the moment of the game. Hazard's crucial second on 62 minutes was superb.
He burst down the left wing and was double marked in an impossibly tight spot. Unflustered, he poked a simple ball to the byline for Lampard, bustled past Bardsley, collected the back heel, danced inside past floundering defenders and opened up room for a perfect finish.
That should have set up an easy finish, especially when Phil Bardsley turned Demba Ba's cross when under no pressure to make it 4-2.
Bardsley, never one to crumble, went straight up the other end and scored for Sunderland to make it 4-3 and set up a nervy last few minutes for Chelsea.
Mourinho's men clung on, staying in touch with Arsenal at the top, but defeat left Sunderland stranded at the bottom and Poyet said: "Hazard was unplayable. We doubled up, tripled up. The best I have seen anyone play against us.
"I need to be positive. An exceptional game that fans love, and managers hate. If we play and fight like today we stay in the Premier League for sure. The players are devastated. To score three against Chelsea and not get a point.... We are a totally different team now from my first 0-4 against Swansea. We need to confirm that with a win."

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Express:

Sunderland 3 - Chelsea 4: Eden Hazard stars in a thriller at the Stadium of Light

DEBATE continues to rage over the future of Britain’s proposed bullet train, but there was no arguing over Eden Hazard’s two high-speed finishes which de-railed Sunderland in a seven-goal thriller.
By: Niall Hickman

The Belgium midfielder issued his own Hazard warning to England who, on this evidence, will hope they avoid the winger in tomorrow’s draw for the World Cup in Brazil.
Hazard, whose performance was described by Blues boss Jose Mourinho as “amazing”, scored two blistering goals and helped set up another as Chelsea remained in Arsenal’s slipstream in the race for the title, just four points behind the Gunners.
Although the Blues deserved their victory, spare a thought for Sunderland, who under new boss Gus Poyet are at least showing the battling qualities which could lead them to Premier League survival. Only one team – West Brom in 2004-05 – have ever been bottom of the Premier League at Christmas and stayed up, but Sunderland displayed enough drive and determination against Chelsea to suggest they have an outside chance.
Although Sunderland took an early lead, Hazard dominated the game to send Chelsea 4-2 clear, only for Phil Bardsley to score with five minutes to go, just seconds after the Scotland defender had put through his own net. It set up a gripping finale and, although Sunderland could not muster another equaliser, Poyet’s side walked down the tunnel to ringing applause from their own supporters.
Mourinho said: “It was by far our best display away from home this season and we played phenomenal, fantastic football. We were creative and dynamic when we had the ball and we had a special Hazard. Normally I don’t like to praise a player, but from the first minute Eden was amazing.
“We played very well defensively. We had no problem in handling the situation, but we conceded three goals. When we play so well and score four goals away, you have to win, but we were in trouble until the last seconds.”
Sunderland drew first blood when Andrea Dossena’s free-kick was charged down but fell to Jack Colback. He threaded a pass through to Jozy Altidore and in one movement the American turned John Terry and fired past Petr Cech.
Chelsea, stung by the early setback, bristled and when Juan Mata earned a corner they immediately hit back. Fernando Torres fed Hazard, whose beautifully-weighted cross left Frank Lampard with the relatively easy task of planting a header past Vito Mannone.
Torres missed a sitter and, as the half wore on, the visitors began to exert increasing authority.
Hazard showed how it should be done as he collected the ball on the left, cut inside Bardsley and Craig Gardner before beating Mannone all ends up for his seventh goal of the season.
But if Chelsea’s travelling fans were expecting it to be plain sailing in the second half they were soon to realise there was plenty more fight in Sunderland, as John O’Shea took advantage of some sloppy defending to blast home from close in to make it 2-2.
Torres managed to miss an open goal with his next chance but once more Hazard came to the rescue. He played a wonderful one-two with Lampard, whose back-heeled pass fell perfectly into his path and Hazard did the rest, cutting inside O’Shea to hit an another unstoppable shot.
It looked all over six minutes from time when substitute Demba Ba’s cross was diverted into his own net by Bardsley. But just seconds later, the full-back took advantage of yet more slack marking to poke the ball home from a corner.
It was not quite enough, but it gave Poyet hope.
“If we can play like today all the time we will stay in the Premier League this season,” he said. “They had a special player on the day in Hazard, but we still came very close.”