It was a disastrous afternoon for Chelsea at the Stadium of Light as they twice threw away the lead to taste defeat against Sunderland.
The Black Cats are embroiled in a relegation battle and they fought for their lives to rescue three points with a 3-2 comeback victory.
It keeps their Premier League fate in their own hands with two games remaining and Chelsea can’t wait for the end of the season to come quick enough either.
Guus Hiddink’s side are limping towards the finish line as the club prepares for a new era under the management of Italian Antonio Conte.
It looks likely they will be entering that new era without John Terry and the captain endured a torrid afternoon as he was sent off at Sunderland.
The suspension which will follow will rule him out for the remainder of the campaign and it seems as though the captain may have played his last game for the club.
Here’s five things we learned from an eventful match at the Stadium of Light.
Frustration for Loftus-Cheek
Hiddink hinted during his Friday press conference that he would field a strong team at the Stadium of Light out of respect to other sides embroiled in the relegation battle.
There could be no complaints from Newcastle and Norwich City fans with this line-up as Hiddink resisted the urge to experiment with some of the younger players again.
However, his decision not start with Nemanja Matic ahead of Ruben Loftus-Cheek left Blues fans particularly disgruntled with the hot prospect left on the bench.
Loftus-Cheek has repeatedly been touted as the next big thing but is still struggling to command a regular spot in the side despite the club have nothing left to play for.
Hiddink will argue Matic’s inclusion was justified given he restored Chelsea’s lead on the stroke of interval, but the supporters remain disillusioned by his continued involvement.
Cahill not hanging around
Chelsea’s commitment has been questioned at times this season after slumping to their worst campaign under Roman Abramovich’s rule.
Sunderland started the match at a high tempo, which was understandable given their precarious position near the bottom of the league, and put the Blues under pressure.
However, the Blues showed against Spurs last week that they are not afraid to mix it when needed and Gary Cahill rattled some cages early on.
In fact, he went into the referee’s notebook after just 44 seconds against Sunderland to earn himself the second quickest yellow in the Premier League this season.
He would be joined later by Terry as the nightmare unfolded for the former England captain.
The gloves are off for Costa
Is it superstition? Is he cold in May? Does he have a sponsorship obligation? Well, one thing’s for sure - Diego Costa once again went into battle wearing a pair of gloves.
He was wearing them against Tottenham Hotspur on Monday and began the game in Sunderland in knitwear again.
They didn’t last long before being tossed away against Spurs and were discarded even sooner on Wearside as he had a change of heart inside the opening 15 minutes.
Within moments of Costa choosing to ditch the unnecessary items, the net was bulging as the Spaniard bagged his 16th goal of the season and ended a mini scoring drought.
Someone needs to tell him he really won’t need them for the trip to Liverpool or the visit of Leicester on the final day.
All over for Terry?
Terry looks to have played his last game for Chelsea after being sent off at Sunderland.
He saw red late on after picking up a second yellow card to earn him his second dismissal of the campaign following his sending off at West Brom last August.
Given it his second red card of the season, it will earn him a two-match ban rather than the regular one-game suspension that two bookable offences.
That means he will now miss the midweek trip to Liverpool and his farewell party in the final game of term against champions Leicester next weekend.
It was the sixth red card of Terry’s Chelsea career and no other Blues player has been sent off more times in the Premier League.
Hope for Sunderland
What a morale-boosting win this was for Sunderland.
Sam Allardyce has never been relegated from the Premier League and the impact he has had at the Stadium of Light has been nothing short of remarkable.
In Jermain Defoe he has a real predator in front of goal and he proved that again today by bagging the winner.
And it all came on the day that Norwich lost and Newcastle somehow failed to beat the hopeless Aston Villa.
They remain outside the drop zone after this triumph and boast a game in hand in the fight for survival. This could be the day they really leapt to safety.
Read More:Match report and pictures as Sunderland stun Chelsea on Wearside.
