But what about Torres?

With Drogba away for a month, Torres has the chance to claim a permanent starting berth and I really do not know what the bloke has to do to score.

In addition to the volley which crashed off the bar, he flashed a header just wide.

He was booked for diving when a penalty would have been an easier decision to give and his general all round play and commitment to the team was 100%.

On three or four other occasions yesterday Torres was better placed for attempts on goal than the decisions taken to rain shots in, wide or over the bar.

As far as the fans are concerned, Torres can do no wrong!!

FERNANDO TORRES, CHELSEA'S NO.9

Someone posted on Twitter - Torres needs a medium, psychic or an exorcism to banish the goalscoring blues.

Don't play the lottery Fernando, you won't win it!!

Sunderland's Sessegnon caused Chelsea problems all afternoon and he was the architect for the majority of Sunderland's missed opportunities, including, if I counted correctly, three open goals in the second-half, two of them coming in the last ten minutes, either one of them converted would have given Sunderland a deserved share of the points.

Chelsea may have the lost the run of the decisions yesterday, but Lady Luck was on the Blues side.

I wonder if a footballing syndicate won the lottery last night?

Martin O'Neill was left perplexed when he said, "In the second-half alone I think we missed five opportunities, and that's simply too many. I've told the players it was a lack of composure."

Michael Essien made a surprising return as a second-half sub for Super Frank, after being out for six months with cruciate ligament damage.

Essien played 75 minutes for the reserves on Monday afternoon and wasn't expected to feature for the first-team until the end of January, but he came back yesterday and looked full or running and energy and he even had a couple of pops of goal.

AvB paid tribute to the medical staff, he said, "To see a player make the switch so quickly from reserves to first team intensity in a short time is amazing.

"We have to congratulate the medical department. It's very gratifying to have him back due to the type of person he is and the player he represents and its fantastic to have a player of his quality back in the team."

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Luiz, Terry (c), Cole, Meireles, Romeu, Lampard (Essien 73), Ramires, Torres, Mata (Malouda 84)

Goal: Lampard 12

Booked: Luiz, Torres 64, Meireles 72

Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, O'Shea, Kilgallon (Turner 45), Richardson (Wickham 80), Larsson, Vaughan (Gardner 69), Cattermole (c), McLean, Sessegnon, Bendtner

Booked: Cattermole 57

NEXT UP: Norwich City (a), Saturday 21/1/12, K.O. 12.45pm

TWITTER: WVOMChelsea

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Chelsea 1-0 Sunderland: The Shin's on Lampard

Posted by: 50 Years Over 100 Years (IP Logged)

Date: 15/01/2012 10:30

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