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Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho lost his first ever Premier League game at the Stamford Bridge against relegation threatened Sunderland, as title slips away.
An inspired Sunderland, who drew with Manchester City on Wednesday to dent their title hopes, travelled to Stamford Bridge for a must win encounter. Sunderland had to win to keep their survival hopes alive, while Chelsea needed to win to put pressure on league leaders Liverpool, who now stand two points clear at the top with a game in hand.
Although, even after the win Sunderland find themselves four points from safety at the bottom of the league table.
Before tonight, the 51-year-old Portuguese had never lost a Premier League home game in-charge of Chelsea, and was on an unbeaten run of 77 games (61 wins & 16 draws).
Samuel Eto’o opened the scoring volleying in from close range in the 11th minute, when he got to the end of a Willian corner. Connor Wickham, the star of the show against Manchester City, equalised for the visitors in the 17th minute, with a composed finish from about six-yards-out, after Markus Alonso’s volley was not cleared properly by Mark Schwazer.
Chelsea had a number of attempts from long and close range saved by Vito Mannone, with more than 30 shots registered before the end of the game. Oscar, Ivanovic and Eto’o all came close to restore Chelsea’s lead but failed.
Fernando Torres tried an acrobatic bicycle kick in the 77th minute, as Chelsea went for broke.
In the 80th minute, Sunderland were awarded a penalty when, Jozy Altidore was fouled inside the box by Cesar Azpilicueta as Sunderland counter-attacked. Liverpool’s on-loan striker Fabio Borini converted from the spot to put the Black Cats ahead.
Sunderland held on to the slender lead, to cause a huge upset. The title is Liverpool’s to loose, while Sunderland will need to pull a couple of more upsets to bolster their survival hopes.
Chelsea next face Liverpool at Anfield which is being billed as the title decider.
