Premier League: Sunderland 2 Chelsea 4

Chelsea gained revenge for their loss to Sunderland in November by defeating the Black Cats 4-2 at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.

The rejuvenated Blues produced their third league win in a row to go six points clear of fifth-place Tottenham and just a point behind third-place Manchester City.

Sunderland, fielding new signing Stephane Sessegnon on the left of midfield were excellent in the first half, stunning the Premier League champions with a goal in the fourth minute – Phil Bardsley cutting in from the left to drill a low shot across the flat-footed Petr Cech and into the far corner.

It gave Sunderland fans hopes of another shock result but Chelsea matched the home side’s quality and gradually reeled them in.

They were given a helping hand on the quarter-hour when Ahmed Elmohamady needlessly felled Ashley Cole in the area before Frank Lampard strode up to send Craig Gordon the wrong way from the spot.

Gordon was superb throughout the game and made a string of eye-catching saves, but the Sunderland gloveman made a crucial error in the 23rd minute when he raced out of his box after Nicholas Anelka had produced a defence-splitting pass for Salomon Kalou to run on to.

The Ivory Coast international rolled the ball around the goalkeeper’s star-shaped dive to give the visitors the lead.

The Blues’ advantage lasted only three minutes though as Kieran Richardson netted his third goal in two games when his free-kick traversed under the Chelsea wall and past the stranded Cech.

The equaliser saw the two teams going into the break on level terms but Chelsea were a different class in the second-half as Gordon found his goal under siege in the first 15 minutes with Kalou, Didier Drogba, Anelka and Lampard all going close.

It looked as though Sunderland’s mean defence might thwart Chelsea’s clear superiority but the key goal came on the hour when, from a disputed corner, Lampard produced a magnificent save from Gordon but the ball dropped to John Terry who dug the ball out of the turf and just under the crossbar.

The scoreline was given a look which reflected the balance of power over the 90 minutes when Florent Malouda waltzed by a string of tired challenges to set up man-of-the-match Anelka who side-footed home from five yards.