Smashing performance from Sunderland, that. They were much the better side in the second half, and could - should - have scored at least once. Still, a splendid point for Gus Poyet, and an off-day for Fabregas. It’s probably not a coincidence that when he didn’t play well, neither did Chelsea.
Full-time: Sunderland 0-0 Chelsea
Wiiiiiiiiise men say...only fools rush in...
90 mins + 2: Gomez gets a late booking for a nasty late challenge on Cahill. One last Hail Mary for Chelsea, Drogba gets a header but it goes wide.
90 mins + 1: Fabregas sums up his game by trying a massively ambitious shot from about 35 yards, which goes well over. On the sidelines, Mourinho takes a sip of isotonic drink (after 90 minutes of pure hell), then shakes the hand of a nearby ballboy.
90 mins: Pantilimon palms the cross behind for a corner. Fabregas puts another cross in, but Altidore, helping out the defence, heads powerfully clear.
89 mins: Vergini fouls Hazard on the left. Dangerous spot for a free-kick. Fabregas limbers up...
88 mins: Altidore >>>>>> Costa.
Jozy Altidore (1) has had more shots on target than Diego Costa (0) today.
— Ryan Keaney (@RyanKeaney) November 29, 2014
87 mins: Man, Sunderland are getting closer and closer. Johnson shifts the ball onto his left foot, around 25 yards out in the middle of goal, but his shot flashes about a yard wide of the post.
86 mins: Wickham powers in the direction of goal, coming from the left, but Matic takes the law into his own hands by hacking the Sunderland man down before he can do too much damage. What a point in life we’ve reached when a Chelsea player would rather take the booking than allow Connor Wickham to take a shot.
85 mins: Another change for Chelsea - Andre Schurrle comes on for Willian.
84 mins: Another chance for Sunderland. Johnson feeds the ball to Altidore on the right side of the box, he shoots but it finds its way back to Johnson, who has a clear path to goal, but he skews his shot wide.
82 mins: So close! Altidore blunders into the box, tries a shot and it bobbles around off Courtois’s shins, before eventually being shovelled clear by the defence. Willian counters at some pace, but is eventually muscled out.
81 mins: Drogba tries a shot on the spin, but it goes across the face of goal and wide.
Updated
80 mins: Fabregas hasn’t been at his best today, looking for slipped passes all over the place but Sunderland’s defence has been so tightly packed it’s proved almost impossible to get through.
78 mins: Almost a calamity for Chelsea as Azpilicueta gives the ball directly to Wickham, and the forward breaks towards goal, but at no point does he look like he knows what he’s going to do next. As it turns out, that what is a fairly weak shot.
75 mins: Pair of changes for Chelsea - Drogba’s on, joined by Loïc Remy, with Costa and Oscar coming off.
74 mins: Altidore barrels in from the left, tries to skip past Cahill but doesn’t, then chases the ball with Courtois, goes in a trifle late but the Chelsea keeper takes the ball over the line for a corner. O’Shea gets a booking for a cynical pull back as Chelsea try to launch an attack.
73 mins: Hazard sort of shoots from a tight angle, but there’s little danger there for Sunderland. Didier Drogba is imminent.
72 mins: Wickham does brilliantly after cutting in from the left, and taking a shot when nobody thought it would come. Courtois is surprised, but deals with it reasonably well.
70 mins: Costa isn’t a cult hero at Sunderland. You’ll need to alter the spelling slightly to get what they think of him. Thus, there’s mirth all round when the Spanish Brazilian is dispossessed out on the Chelsea left by Vergini.
Updated
69 mins: Altidore’s every act is greeted with cheers aplenty from the home crowd, who appear to have firmly filed the big man under ‘cult hero.’
67 mins: Matic tries a shot which he gets absolutely everything behind, and in the end Pantilimon does well to hang on after it swerves about two yards ahead of him. Beefy shot, was that.
66 mins: More on the Costa debate, from the other side of the sea and Richard McGahey: “You may think that the debate over Costa’s flagrant elbow is “whether it should have been more,” but the troglodyte Lee Dixon, commenting on NBC Sports here in the USA, said it was barely a foul, and certainly not a yellow. Dixon complains at every opportunity that referees call too many fouls and “the modern game” doesn’t allow enough violence and flagrant fouling. We are oppressed watching these games in the States with having to listen to Dixon, whose wishful longing for more leg breaking is part of commentary seemingly directly channelled from about 1973, and certainly isn’t in tune with “the modern game.”
65 mins: Altidore fails to bring the ball under control in the Chelsea box. Just going to copy that for future use.
63 mins: Chelsea have a go at some of the neat, intricate passing that Arsenal were in the early kick-off, but it’s not happening for them at the moment. Sunderland will be sitting back, absorbing that and looking for the counter, which is perhaps why Altidore is on.
62 mins: Double change for Sunderland - Jozy Altidore and Jordi Gomez are coming on, with Rodwell and Fletcher coming off.
60 mins: Good game, this. Sunderland try to build from the right with Johnson, but don’t really get anywhere, then there’s an almighty scrap for the ball involving a few players in the middle.
59 mins: Fletcher gets down the left and hangs a cross over to the back stick, where Johnson runs onto it and heads towards goal. Azpilicueta blocks with his chest, and the home crowd claim handball. No dice there, though.
Updated
56 mins: Lots of wrestling in the box from a Chelsea corner. The Daily Mail are going to be furious. Cahill penalised, though.
54 mins: Hhmmmm, yellow card for Costa, which rules him out of the next game, but the debate is whether it should have been more. Costa went up for a header with Brown, catching him in the face with a flailing right arm. On the one hand he wasn’t actually looking at Brown, but on the other he led with his left arm so the swinging right had no place being anywhere near Brown’s mush. The crowd, to say the least, aren’t happy with the decision.
51 mins: “According to a quick web check, Sunderland’s 10 degrees C/50 F,” writes Edward Roach, troublingly implying that he’s been looking at pages other than this minute-by-minute. “Poyet needs thermals for that weather? Heavens, given what we’ve had here in Ohio of late, that would almost make me break out the shorts...”
Fair enough. Everyone else is wrapped up in coats, mind.
50 mins: Chelsea try to create some space and pierce the Sunderland defence, but they’re sitting deeper and deeper, as Madonna once sang. Willian tries a shot aiming for the top corner, but it flashes just wide.
48 mins: Hazard, who’s been relatively quiet thus far but usually that means he’s about to do something brilliant, slides a pass through to Willian but Larsson just gets there ahead of him and toes it out for a corner. That corner is delivered at some pace, Cahill gets up to head at goal but Pantilimon saves.
Updated
47 mins: Willian does well to create something from little, breaking through the Sunderland defence, before Revelliere blocks his cross out for a corner.
46 mins: We’re back out for the second half. Poyet is wearing just suit and relatively thin jumper under the jacket, so he’s either hard or wearing some brutal thermal underwear.
Think you’re living life? Think again.
Commentate on a game, couple of pints with the lads, Chinese Takeaway, TV with the kids, Match Of The Day, hit the sack. #PerfectSaturday
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) November 29, 2014
Half-time: Sunderland 0-0 Chelsea
Spicy game this. Sunderland have given as good as etc and so on, both in terms of feisty play and actual play. Chelsea have had the better efforts and both teams have hit the frame of the goal. Second half should be good, so stick around.
45 mins: A minute of time to be added, you lucky punters.
44 mins: Costa and O’Shea are involved in a square go, after a foul by the latter on the former. Costa was probably lucky to get away without a booking for his retaliation, but get away he does.
42 mins: Oscar feeds Costa on the left edge of the Sunderland area, the big striker tries to find some room but instead goes to ground, and even he doesn’t have the chutzpah to claim a penalty or anything from that one.
Updated
41 mins: Ivanovic tries to beat Wickham at his own game by attacking, but his cross from the right flank is too close to the five metre arms of Pantilimon, who plucks it from the air like a dog claiming a much-chewed frisbee.
39 mins: Wickham is, against logic, sense and the odds, is actually causing a few problems out on the left. He runs down the flank and wins a corner from virtually nothing. John Robertson he is not, but he’s effective at the moment.
37 mins: Excellent moment as Wickham slips over out on the left, but still manages to retain the ball. Hats off sir, well done indeed.
35 mins: Willian tries a low shot from the edge of the area, but for his and your benefit, it’s probably better if we never speak of that again.
34 mins: Close! Johnson improvises superbly by scooping the ball over a defender to Cattermole, who whips in a low cross to the near post. For reasons that are not hugely clear Vergini is there, and he helps the ball past Courtois, but it kisses the bar on its way past the goal. Close, close, close. Good game, this.
33 mins: Sunderland are given a free-kick as Azpilicueta leads with an arm in an aerial challenges. Cheers - ironic ones - can be heard.
Updated
31 mins: Ivanovic proves that he’s not just a defender with a massive pair of glutes by barreling into the area from the right, shooting low but Pantilimon saves solidly.
30 mins: Mauricio Taricco has done something to displease referee Kevin Friend, and it dispatched to the stands. A pleasingly retro chant of ‘Who’s the bastard in the black’ rings around Wearside.
29 mins: Frisson of drama in the Chelsea box. Wickham gets down the left, eludes Ivanovic and crosses, which Courtois dives and sort of palms away. It falls to Johnson, who tries to flick it over Fabregas but handles, a free-kick is given.
28 mins: Costa gets the ball on the left side of the box and just about sorts his feet out to get a shot, which was going wide but blocked out to Oscar. He tries an effort of his own, but it’s deflected wide for a corner. Fabregas takes that corner, and it’s wildly overhit. Weird seeing Fabregas try something and it not working, these days.
25 mins: A shot from Rodwell calls a previously slumbering Courtois into action, getting it all behind the effort and firmly keeping it from the netty clutches of his goal.
22 mins: Fabregas threads a pass through the defence like Luke Skywalker firing into the exhaust port of the first Death Star, but the ball doesn’t quite reach the run of Diego Costa as John O’Shea was there to stretch and intercept.
21 mins: Rui Faria has managed to seemingly keep his opinions and ire to himself thus far. Let’s see if he can keep that up for the whole game.
Updated
19 mins: Chelsea win a corner out on the right, which is hurled over to the near post. Terry gets a flick to it, but nobody is there to capitalise. The ball then reaches Oscar, who takes perhaps a little too long to shoot, and his effort pinballs around the box before being cleared.
16 mins: Nothing much comes of the free-kick and Chelsea counter, firstly through Diego Costa of which nothing in particular comes, but then the ball finds its way to Willian, who skims a low shot off the turf and thuds it into the post. Closest we’ve got to a goal so far.
15 mins: Rodwell skips past Ivanovic, which the big full-back isn’t happy about at all and hauls the erstwhile Great Hope Of English Football back. Free-kick.
Updated
14 mins: Alexander Sharkey is grumpy. Possibly over-tired. Perhaps hasn’t had his tea: “Re: Miguel Delaney’s “stat” — when did ‘convoluted’ become a synonym for ‘utterly trivial’? He might as well tell us what team was the fifth since the war to have played ten of its first 12 games south of Manchester.”
13 mins: Oscar cuts in from the left, half-beats Cattermole a couple of times, then shifts the ball into enough space and onto his right foot to try a shot, but a deflection takes the sting out of it and Pantilimon gathers in those massive limbs of his.
Updated
12 mins: It’s all slowed down a little now. Chelsea are keeping the ball in midfield, biding their time. Like an 11-headed blue snake.
9 mins: Sunderland edging their way back into it now. Wickham has a shot from the left corner of the area, which flashes comfortably over, but the home crowd OOOOAAAHHHH enthusiastically, and it certainly sounds like there’s a pretty good atmosphere at the Stadium of Light.
7 mins: Chelsea create some space on the edge of the area, teeing up Terry to come forward and try a shot from 20-yards, but the high-shorted Lee Cattermole charges the shot down.
Meanwhile, Charles Antaki has a request: “So Jose Mourinho visits patients in hospital at Christmas? I think I’ll dig out my old “No Visits From Margaret Thatcher Please” and substitute his name. You never know.”
6 mins: Peachy piece of control by Wickham in the Chelsea area, bringing down a long pass with the outside of his right foot. Nothing comes of it for Sunderland and Chelsea counter, a cross comes over and Vergini comes perilously close to turning it into his own net at the far post. Safe in the knowledge, of course, that he’ll never be able to top his effort against Southampton.
5 mins: All Chelsea now, and the home crowd are making quite a noise in encouraging their boys to close them down. Fabregas tries a delicious chipped ball over the top looking for Willian, but it’s just ahead of the Brazilian.
3 mins: Not much has happened so far. Oh, Cesc Fabregas just backheeled the ball. That was nice.
1 min: We’re away, Seb Larsson and a very cold-looking Steven Fletcher beginning proceedings. Fletcher could do with some gloves: Sunderland in November is a perfectly acceptable time to don the wool.
Convoluted arbitrary stat alert...
Chelsea can become just the fifth team since the war to win 11 of first 13 while going undefeated. (That's a convoluted stat).
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) November 29, 2014
“Jose really doesn’t like to mix it up too much, again going with a very settled team,” spins Lee Madden. “It’ll be interesting to see how long the likes of Schurle and Ramires stick around given a real lack of game time… that said, he cant drop hazard on form and Willian is all action and hard working (and has SUPERB hair).”
“Are Chelsea expecting to win tonight?” asks yer man in the Sky studio, of Ruud Gullit.
Well, erm, yeah, probably.
Win or lose, Chelsea are on the booze. So Jose says. Sort of:
The decision to abandon last year’s festive celebration, which had initially been scheduled to be held just 24 hours after the cup tie last December, had been born of concerns over the team’s form with the loss to Gus Poyet’s team considered surprising given they were bottom of the league at the time.
Yet Mourinho cited his players’ improved attitude and professionalism in training and preparation as justification for the club to provide an event – albeit geared more towards families – this time round. “Probably, because of that, the club is preparing a little Christmas party for them and their families,” said the Portuguese. “Maybe because their families also deserve it. For good things, we’ll find the time. The traditional hospital visits and charity stuff, we also have time for that. And because this is a squad with lots of kids – young guys with kids from a couple of weeks to 10 years old – I think it will be good for them.”
Incidentally, the man on duty for Sunderland’s win in April was, erm, me. Here’s how the dramatic moment went down back then...
One of the notable things about this Chelsea side is not just how good it is, but how settled it is. With most teams there would be some debate about what their best XI is, but anyone could pick Chelsea’s top side, and they’ve been relatively free of injuries as well. Seven players have been ever-presents in the league, another three have played ten of their 12 games, with the only position that isn’t 100% set in stone being whoever plays with Oscar and Eden Hazard in that attacking three. Willian’s there today, but Andre Schurrle is prepped to step in if needs be.
Team news
Sunderland
Pantilimon; Reveillere, Brown, O’Shea (c), Vergini; Larsson, Johnson, Cattermole, Rodwell; Wickham, Fletcher. Subs: Mannone, Bridcutt, Gomez, Altidore, Alvarez, Coates, Buckley.
Chelsea
Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa. Subs: Cech, Zouma, Filipe Luis, Mikel, Schurrle, Remy, Drogba.
Referee: Kevin Friend
They say that the secret of a good relationship is honesty. Trust and honesty. Trust, honesty and not turning into a horrendous shadow of yourself, rendering your partner unable to even look at your stupid face, lest they retch at what you have both become. Something like that, anyway. There is of course such a thing as too much honesty, and most of the occasions for which that maxim applies have to do with size, but sometimes it has to do with football.
Take Gus Poyet, for example. Everyone knows that unless something in the realms of the plain implausible and ludicrous happens, his Sunderland side will be on the business end of a terrific shoeing from Chelsea today. For Sunderland are, by common consensus, no good at all, while that same most common of consensus (and the league table, obvs) tells us that Chelsea are brilliant. You know this, we know this, Gus knows this, the Sunderland players know this and the Sunderland fans know this. Everyone, in short, knows this. But still, there’s no need to, you know, actually say it:
“They are unbeaten in the Premier League and the best team in the country by far. They were strong title favourites before the season started and now they’re even bigger favourites...It (Chelsea’s win over Schalke in the week) was a perfect Chelsea performance. Let’s hope they’re not perfect against us. It’s going to be difficult but it’s a great chance and we’re the ones with the opportunity to end their unbeaten League run this season. Let’s try.”
Well, quite.
The thing that Sunderland have in their favour/have to cling to is that they somewhat improbably beat Chelsea twice last term, knocking them out of the Capital One Cup and then somehow pulling off that lunatic result in the closing stages of the season that not only kept their survival hopes alive, but actually saw them stay up relatively comfortably in the end, when Poyet had rather openly given up a few weeks earlier. The chances of a repeat in this one rank somewhere near both managers deciding to sack off the football and decide the destiny of the three points by wrestling nude on the touchline...but it could still happen.
This is, after all, the season of chaos in the Premier League. Nobody knows what’s going on, nobody is really any good, and anybody can beat anybody. When several very moveable objects collide then they are wont to go everywhere, which of course makes all of this terrific fun. Let’s hope some of that saunters into town this evening.
Kick-off: 5.30pm
Nick will be here shortly.
