For the second weekend in a row, a north-east side went to London and picked up a shock win.

Note – this article originally featured photos from the match, which have had to be removed for copyright reasons.

Like Newcastle in their 1-0 victory over Arsenal last weekend , Sunderland recorded a win over Chelsea by playing with two nominal strikers. Unlike Newcastle, they pressed high up the pitch, attacked in numbers in open play, and took the game to the opposition.

Playing that way was the key, according to Nedum Onuoha, scorer of the superb first goal. ”Some of our best results have come when we’ve tried to play more football. We definitely tried to do that and we saw it pays to do that.”

Steve Bruce was similarly positive. “Today, we had that cutting edge. (Asamoah) Gyan and (Danny) Welbeck led the line fantastically well.”

“All week, we thought that everybody who comes here just plays one striker. They’re so used to playing against it, and they’re so patient, that eventually they’ll break you down. So we thought, why not have a go?”

“We’ve got the youngest Premier League squad – with that comes energy.”

Two strikers

Attacking through middle

Pressing

Defending in numbers

Attacking in numbers

Responsbility

Man-marking Cole

Man-marking Cole (2)

Zenden tucks in

Tackle success



by Guardian Chalkboards

Sunderland won the majority of tackles – 45 out of 74.

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