Chelsea	2 - 0	Sunderland
Scorers Shevchenko 23 Lampard (pen) 75	Half Time ( 1 - 0 )	Booked Wallace 40  Sent Off Miller 88

On a rain soaked day Striker Andriy Shevchenko and midfielder Frank Lampard scored to help Chelsea win against Sunderland.

Shevchenko just about reached Salomon Kalou's cross to head home for Chelsea's first after being left unmarked in the area. Sunderland never stopped working in the second half to try to control Chelsea but never really caused Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini any difficulty. Lampard got the second from a penalty after Danny Higginbotham pulled Alex's shirt. Liam Miller was then sent off late on in the game for a push on Claudio Pizarro.

Chelsea will now be looking to the Christmas period hoping Shevchenko can re-kindle some of his goal scoring form as they will have to do without Dider Drogba who had a knee operation earlier on Saturday. Drogba has notched up more goals than Kalou and Shevchenko put together. But, Shevchenko started off brightly today and came close to an early lead after he redirected Joe Cole's corner onto the crossbar after only 5 minutes.

And low and behold Shevchenko scored 15 minutes later with a diving header from 5 yards out. Chelsea dominated the first half but failed to add to the score line because of Sunderland's ultra defensive tactics.

Sunderland's only chance of the first half came from a low drive from Kenwyne Jones which failed to trouble Carlo Cudicini.

Sunderland's counter attacks initially failed to materialize in the second half due to the amount of possession Chelsea had in the opposition's half. But as Paul McShane and Higginbotham kept the Chelsea attack at bay with numerous blocks, the black cats grew in confidence and nearly pulled level with a Jones header which narrowly missed the target. Halford and Daryl Murphy both had long distance efforts but failed to result in the much needed goal to create a nail biting finish.

Then Alex's shirt was tugged by Higginbotham and Lampard found the back of the net from the spot, killing off Sunderland's fight back. Liam Miller was then sent off for a push on Pizarro to top another disappointing day off for Sunderland.


Chelsea: Chelsea: Cudicini, Belletti, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Wright-Phillips, Obi, Lampard, Joe Cole (Sidwell 85), Kalou (Pizarro 66), Shevchenko.

Subs Not Used: Hilario, Bridge, Ben-Haim.

Sunderland: Sunderland: Ward, Halford, McShane, Higginbotham, Collins, Miller, Leadbitter (Stokes 70), Etuhu, Whitehead, Wallace, Jones (Murphy 67).

Subs Not Used: Gordon, Yorke, Cole.

Att: 41,707

Ref: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire)

By Ronan McKitterick