Chelsea will be steeling themselves for a spate of bruising encounters over Christmas and this flattening of one of the Premier League's featherweights moved them closer to pacesetters Arsenal and Manchester United. But the Blues will go through a key part of the season without their talismanic striker Didier Drogba who underwent a knee operation earlier on Saturday. The Ivory Coast forward boasts more goals this season than Saturday's front two Kalou and Shevchenko put together. But the former came close to adding to his three league goals when he deflected Cole's corner on to the bar after just five minutes. And just 15 minutes later, the Ivorian picked out his unmarked strike partner Shevchenko who dived to head home from five yards. The hosts deserved more from a first half that they completely dominated. Black Cats boss Roy Keane indicated before the game that he was willing to "park the bus" in front of his side's goal and Kenwyne Jones was isolated up front feeding on scraps and mistakes. Cudicini's only test of the first half was to gather Jones' bobbling low drive, while Darren Ward, again keeping Craig Gordon out of the side, was regularly peppered with crosses, and half chances. As the rain lashed down in the second half, Chelsea poured forward swamping the visitors' defence and breaking up sporadic counter attacks. Sunderland worked hard to limit the home side's clear-cut chances with Paul McShane and Higginbotham tirelessly chasing down runs and blocking shots. And as their confidence grew, Jones became more involved and he glanced a header wide from a tight angle. Halford had a long range effort comfortably saved by Cudicini and substitute Daryl Murphy flashed an effort wide from 25 yards. But when Higgingbotham pulled Alex's shirt inside the box, Lampard drilled home the penalty to put Chelsea out of sight. Miller's late dismissal for pushing Pizarro just yards from the referee completed Keane's miserable afternoon.
Source: BBC Sport
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