Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole played a key part in the Black Cats goalless draw against Chelsea
Premier League leaders Chelsea were held to a goalless draw at Sunderland in the late kick-off on Saturday.
The Black Cats were the first team this season to stop Jose Mourinho’s men from finding the net.
The Blues are still six points clear at the top of the Premier League table, but the side from the north east showed how the rest of the league have to defend against Mourinho’s side in order to get a positive result.
Magnificent
The Black Cats did a very effective job of frustrating Chelsea. The side from the north east did an excellent job of restricting the amount of space and time on the ball for the visitors.
The whole of the Sunderland team played a part, but the defence and defensive midfielder Lee Cattermole deserve special praise for the result.
Chelsea are the top scorers in the Premier League this season with 30 goals and have looked far more effective going forward this season than last. It is a testament to Sunderland’s display that they failed to score.
The Black Cats are now four games unbeaten in the Premier League and kept clean sheets in the last two games. I am sure Gus Poyet will now look for his team to push on and move further away from the relegation zone.
Frustrated
Chelsea were no doubt frustrated by their inability to make a breakthrough, especially top scorer Diego Costa, who could have saw for red in an incident involving Republic of Ireland centre-back John O’Shea.
Instead he was given a yellow card, which was his fifth of the season and means a ban for the former-Atletico Madrid star. The 26-year-old will now miss Wednesday’s home game against Tottenham.
The Spanish international is a superb predator in front of goal and he has now scored 11 Premier League goals in 11 Premier League appearances. However, he is a fiery character and often threads the disciplinary line.
Some may argue that it is the devil in him that makes him such a threat to defences. He is just a constant menace to defences, but when things are not going his way he does lose his rag very easily. Yesterday’s incident with John O’Shea perfectly illustrated that point.
Costa is probably the player that will win the Blues the Premier League title this season and the positives of the striker heavily outweigh the negatives.
No rotation
One of the main reasons that Chelsea have made such a good start to the campaign is that they have had such a settled team. Seven of Chelsea’s starting line-up at the Stadium of Light had started every Premier League game this season.
The same eleven has now lined-up in the last three games against West Brom, Schalke and Sunderland. In these modern days of squad rotation and teams being constantly changed it is rare for such a big team to show such a consistent line-up.
Chelsea have quality in abundance, but no matter how good a player is he is likely to tire at some point. Blues boss Jose Mourinho may look at changing his team for the Tottenham game. However, he is unlikely to make wholesale changes, because his formula has worked for much of this season.
Favourites
Despite the draw at Sunderland, Chelsea are still favourites to win the Premier League title at odds of 2/9. The draw at Sunderland looks to be just a bump in the road for Jose Mourinho’s men and is unlikely to derail their seemingly relentless run to claiming the title this season.
However, Sunderland showed that with the right tactical approach and a lot of hard work teams can get a positive result against the Blues. Chelsea still have a lot of work to do to clinch the title, but I would be very surprised if Mourinho’s men did not win the Premier League title come what May.
Is the draw at Sunderland just a bump in the road for Chelsea?
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