Chelsea just love playing Premier League football at the Stadium Of Light.
The Blues are undefeated in their last eight league games in the North East and will be confident of recording a ninth victory when they face Poyets Sunderland on Saturday.
The London side’s undefeated run in this fixture stretches back to the 2002/03 season when goals from Gianfranco Zola and Carlton Cole secured victory for Claudio Ranieri’s side in his final year at the club.
It took a last-gasp volley from a 19-year-old Cole to guarantee a Chelsea win after the side went behind in just the 12th minute as they looked to claim fourth place and qualify for the Champions League for just the second time in their history.
The Blues named a side that boasted the likes of World Cup winner Marcel Desailly and footballing superstar Zola but there was little they could do when a poor Frank Lampard header allowed Sean Thornton to bring the ball down on his chest and unleash a volley that raced past Carlo Cudicini.
Sunderland came into this fixture on the back of a eight-game losing streak and manager Mick McCarthy would have been over the moon with his sides first half performance.
The tide changed in the second half though and it wasn’t long before Chelsea levelled with fan-favourite Zola getting his name on the scoresheet.
Sunderland would have felt slightly hard done by as Thomas Sorensen was left helpless after a deflection of Talal El Karkouri sent the ball into the Black Cats net.
Controversy struck when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink found the net only to be called back as the referee penalised the power-house forward for hand-ball.
Cole completed an impressive second half performance by scoring a brilliant left-footed volley with just five minutes left on the clock, the result pushed Chelsea five points clear of Liverpool and fastened their grip on fourth place.
Sunderland couldn’t improve on their poor run of form and ended the season at the foot of the Premier League with 19 points, 25 points from safety.
Chelsea finished in fourth place and qualified for the Champions League play-off but it wasn't enough for Ranieri to keep his job as the manager and was replaced by Jose Mourinho.
