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Chelsea's Paulo Ferreira (L) vies with Sunderland´s Asamoah Gyan (R) during the Premier league football match at Stamford Bridge in London. Sunderland won 3-0.
LONDON (AFP) - Chelsea's lead at the top of the Premier League was cut to two points after Nedum Onuoha's stunning goal set Sunderland on their way to a shock 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Asamoah Gyan and Danny Welbeck added to Onuoha's effort as Chelsea keeper Petr Cech conceded his first league goals at Stamford Bridge since March and the Blues suffered their heaviest home defeat since April 2002. Chelsea had suffered the blow of losing captain John Terry to injury the day before the game and the home side's makeshift back four was repeatedly exposed by Sunderland forwards Welbeck and Gyan.
Carlo Ancelotti's team look far from invincible at present and second placed Arsenal will suddenly fancy their chances of taking top spot from the champions sooner rather than later. Ancelotti said: "Everything went wrong, we didn't play well or how we wanted. "It was a bad day. We were not able to play our football, just 15 minutes in the first half. Everything was difficult, it was a strange performance. "We were in a good moment but now we have to come back and stay focused on the next game."
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce added: "Two weeks ago we were hung, drawn and quartered (after losing 5-1 to Newcastle). We were looking for a response and got it. "The Newcastle defeat was the worst performance of my career and this was arguably the best." Chelsea's preparations for this game had certainly not run smoothly with the build-up dominated by the dismissal of assistant manager Ray Wilkins and another injury to midfielder Frank Lampard.
Wilkins, who has a 37-year association with the club, was unexpectedly removed from his post last week after the board decided that the former England midfielder was no longer the right man for the job. Then Lampard strained an adductor muscle in training just as he was on the point of returning following a two month absence with hernia and hamstring problems and will now be out until December. With Michael Essien starting a three-match ban following his midweek red card, Chelsea's midfield options were limited.
And with Sunderland quickly showing they were capable of matching Chelsea in the central area of the pitch, Ancelotti's pre-match warning that his side had no chance of repeating January's 7-2 victory over Bruce's side appeared accurate. Chelsea still had most of the play early on though and Nicolas Anelka bore down on John Obi Mikel's long pass, only to be narrowly beaten to the ball by visiting keeper Craig Gordon.
Then a minute later Yuri Zhrikhov slalomed through the Sunderland back four before wastefully pulling his shot across the face of Gordon's goal. The more incisive attacking play, however, came at the other end of the pitch where Welbeck and Gyan repeatedly exposed Chelsea's makeshift central defensive pairing of Branislav Ivanovic and Paulo Ferreira. Welbeck served the first warning of the visitors' threat with a 35th minute header that Cech did well to push to safety.
And the Chelsea keeper again had to be at his best three minutes later when Welbeck was released by Gyan and fired in a powerful low shot. Sunderland finally found a way past Cech immediately before the interval. Onuoha was the unlikely source of the goal but there was no doubting the quality of the finish as the right back ran past three home defenders before finishing left footed.
Chelsea were caught wide open again when Jordan Henderson celebrated his first England call-up with the decisive pass that allowed Gyan to get between Ivanovic and Ferreira and finish past Cech. Chelsea's attacking efforts continued to lack conviction and a miserable afternoon was made complete when Ashley Cole's misdirected back pass was intercepted by Welbeck, who scored with three minutes remaining.
Birmingham keeper Ben Foster produced a superb performance as leaders Chelsea suffered successive Barclays Premier League defeats for the first time in more than four years. Lee Bowyer's opening-half goal - his first for nearly 12 months - earned Alex McLeish's side a shock victory. But their hero was Foster who bounced back from his error on England duty in midweek with a series of stunning saves.
Chelsea dominated proceedings for the entire 90 minutes but they could not find a way past the former Manchester United player. It was a vastly improved performance by Chelsea compared to their 3-0 home mauling by Sunderland last weekend. But they tasted defeat in back to back league games for the first time since the end of the 2005-2006 campaign and they now only lead Manchester United on goal difference.
In addition to Foster, City centre-backs Scott Dann and Roger Johnson were outstanding. Chelsea were quickly into their stride and Salomon Kalou missed an early chance to put them ahead. Didier Drogba's flick found Kalou with only Foster to beat but his shot went through the legs of the keeper and just past the post. Foster made a fine save to keep Birmingham on level terms after Drogba was sent clear by Kalou.
It was the kind of chance Drogba would normally convert but Foster raced off his line to reduce the angle and saved low to his left. Chelsea had quickly established a grip of the game and were taking advantage of having an extra midfield player. But Birmingham stunned Chelsea by taking their lead via their first worthwhile attack after 17 minutes.
Sebastian Larsson's right-wing cross was headed down by Cameron Jerome to Bowyer who was completely unmarked and lashed the ball past Petr Cech for his first goal of the season. Chelsea tried to retaliate and Foster went down to his right to hold onto Drogba's effort from the right of the box. He then made a superb reflex save to keep out Drogba's close range header from Nicolas Anelka's centre.
Chelsea continued to dominate and Foster again did well to beat out an Ashley Cole shot after he had sized onto a pass from Kalou. Chelsea were carving chances almost at will and Alex had a free header from Florent Malouda's corner but directed it past the post. Drogba tried his luck with a low 30 yard free-kick and Foster was again alert to turn it around the post.
But he was helpless after 38 minutes when Drogba crashed a header against the crossbar from Malouda's cross. Ramires was first to react to the rebound but from eight yards out slashed his shot wide. Chelsea continued in the same manner after the break although there were less clearcut openings. Johnson produced a superb tackle to stop Ramires after his run into the box needed treatment to his knee before being able to continue.
Kalou had Chelsea's best chance to date of the second period when turning back inside but he curled his shot over the bar with Foster off his line. Carlo Ancelotti brought on Jose Boswinga in place of Paulo Ferreira after 65 minutes. The chances started to come again for the visitors with Foster holding onto a Drogba free-kick and Kalou heading wide from Anelka's cross.
Scott Dann's back pass played in Kalou but Foster took the ball away from his feet with a perfectly timed challenge. Foster parried aside an Branislav Ivanovic header as the pressure again became relentless. Liam Ridgewell was yellow carded for bringing down Boswinga but Chelsea could not find a way through.
