Sunderland vs Chelsea : 5 Talking Points

So far, Chelsea have been rampant to say the least. Devastating in attack & solid in defense, the Blues have been difficult to breakdown. In a game which saw Chelsea being stopped from scoring for the first time this season, Sunderland showed immense discipline & organisation to frustrate as well as test the table-toppers. Chelsea remain unbeaten, with the streak going upto 13 games, but only just.Chelsea looked good from the start, knocking the ball around with the confidence of a side topping the standings. Willian hit the woodwork in what was the best chance for the blues in the first half. Sunderland had the raucous crowd behind them and it showed in their game. Vergini & Wickham both came really close to scoring for the Black Cats while Cattermole was defending for his life as he threw his body in the way of several goal-bound efforts.The visitors were quite fortunate not to have Diego Costa sent off for what appeared to be an attempted kick on John O’Shea. Chelsea showed a lot of intent but weren’t able to penetrate. Pantilimon was alert to deny Ivanovic and Cahill from close range. The home side had the better opportunities in the second half as they almost went ahead with 11 minutes remaining through Jozy Altidore. Adam Johnson spurned an even better opportunity soon after, poking narrowly wide from 12 yards after Altidore had again caused problems.Overall, it was a deserved stalemate while it could have gone any way. Here are the 5 talking points from the encounter.

#1 Chelsea are still the team to beat

The result might not have been in the favour of the blues but that takes nothing away from their form which has seen them enjoy their second best start ever to a Premier League season. They were threatening from the word go and kept on pouring in attacks as the game went on. They are now unbeaten for a total of 20 games in all competitions, 13 in the premier league. With a tally of 33 points from a possible 39, they are surely the team to beat as they continue their seemingly unstoppable surge towards the Premier League title.