Jose Mourinho caused surprise in the immediate aftermath of this goalfest when he claimed his defenders had been magnificent.
That superlative was the sole preserve of Eden Hazard, who quite rightly grabbed the plaudits for an at times breathtaking display, and the manager eventually admitted that his players failed defensively.
Mourinho even said he feared Sunderland would have won if they had forced two more corners during a frenetic six minutes of injury time, when Chelsea’s lead had been cut to just one goal.
John Terry was culpable for the opener, turned by Jozy Altidore for only the forward’s second goal in 37 Premier League appearances.
Gary Cahill lost John O’Shea for a messy second that saw the game tied and, with the match apparently all over at 4-2 with four minutes of normal time remaining, Demba Ba lost Phil Bardsley from another corner and the defender, who had scored an own-goal two minutes earlier, set up a grandstand finish that had Mourinho raging in his technical area.
Finally, when the dust had settled on a victory which left Chelsea four points behind leaders Arsenal, Mourinho conceded: “We failed in the basic things of the game. The most basic thing is to defend set-pieces. You know the positions, you practise the positions.
“You have to have some players to defend spaces and you have some players to defend men and we failed. We should have won cleanly because of the way we played. We risked [everything] to the last second. We have [to take] responsibility.
“There were good things — good football, good spirit and an amazing crowd. We played a phenomenal game — it was top quality. We had great creativity in the three attacking players behind Fernando [Torres], [Juan] Mata, Willian and Eden [Hazard].
“We played so well that we shouldn’t have arrived at injury time in a dangerous situation like we did. If in the last six minutes they had two more corners, I think they would have won five-four.”
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That admission was a sign of concern on a night when Hazard was outstanding. The Chelsea manager said the display from the Belgian, playing on the left of a front three behind the misfiring Torres, was the best he had seen from the player. Hazard set up the first and scored the following two with superb solo strikes.
“Maybe last season he did something but for me, it was his best,” he added.
“We know he has talent, but it was the first time I saw his ambition from the first to the last minute.
“He has a great talent but sometimes he does an incredible thing and then he disappears from the game. He was like a kid enjoying himself. He was fantastic from the first minute.”
Chelsea’s away form, however, remains unconvincing. Victory against Sunderland, who have won just twice all season, was their third away from Stamford Bridge having lost at Everton and Newcastle and drawn at Spurs and Manchester United. On Saturday they travel to Stoke, whose reliance upon the set-pieces that were so problematic last night, remain a real threat.
