Chelsea 5 - 1 Sunderland

Chelsea 5 - 1 Sunderland

Chelsea dispatch Sunderland in style to bid John Terry a fond farewell

Home team scorers
da Silva Willian 8
Eden Hazard 61
Rodriguez Pedro 77
Michy Batshuayi 90
Michy Batshuayi 90 +1:58

Away team scorers
Javier Manquillo 3

The clock on the screens at either end of this arena displayed 26 minutes when the pre-planned farewell properly kicked in. Antonio Conte delivered a choreographed nod and a wink from the sidelines, Diego Costa passed on the message and Jordan Pickford obligingly sliced the ball out of play. The board was duly hoisted by the fourth official and John Terry, just outside the centre circle, acknowledged his time, as well as his number, was up.

There were hand claps and hugs with all his team-mates and, while the former Chelsea player Fabio Borini delivered his own appreciation, the home players meandered over to the touchline to form a guard of honour for the departing captain. By the time Terry actually made it off the pitch, via an almost ceremonial handing over of the armband to Gary Cahill, the game was at least 28 minutes old but, even if such stage-managed sentimentality does not sit easily with the competitive nature of the Premier League, it was hard to begrudge the interruption.

This was a 717th appearance, a 580th as captain, and a 345th at Stamford Bridge as Terry’s 22-year association with this club draws to an end. It is not as if Chelsea were setting a precedent. This club may never see his like again, as the pre-match banners – “Thank you for everything” and “John Terry Proper Chels” in the Shed end, and “Captain Leader Legend” in the upper tier of the Matthew Harding stand – had suggested, with this a meaningless contest between champions and condemned. The defender appeared to keep his emotions in check as he returned to the bench. Up in the stand, his wife, Toni, had long since dissolved into floods of tears.

This whole occasion had been a celebration rather than a contest. Sunderland actually joined in for a while, so thankful must they be that their own miserable season has finally drawn to a conclusion, before collapsing in the last half-hour. Javier Manquillo had volleyed them into an early lead while Terry was still on the pitch, the centre-half unable to dart across to block the shot, though David Moyes’ side were never likely to be permitted to end the campaign on a high. Willian, belting a shot through Pickford after Marcos Alonso had struck the angle of post and bar with a free-kick, would swiftly draw the hosts level even if the champions would have to wait until after the hour-mark to ease into the lead which would herald a 30th league win of term.

Eden Hazard, collecting from Costa and offered too much space by Billy Jones, scythed a second across Pickford and into the far corner just after the hour. Then, with Sunderland’s resistance broken, Cesc Fàbregas’ pass was nodded over the on-rushing goalkeeper by Joleon Lescott with Pedro sprinting on to the loose ball to head into the unguarded net. The concession was appropriately farcical given the desperate nature of the visitors’ season. Moyes will meet the club’s owner, Ellis Short, for talks over his future at the American’s Chelsea home on Monday. He hardly acknowledged Michy Batshuayi scoring Chelsea’s fourth in the last minute, or their fifth in stoppage time, as Sunderland players, praying for the final whistle, permitted him to cut inside and finish with ease.

That was the Belgian’s fourth goal in three games, a timely haul as Conte plans for next year’s defence. Costa had departed with waves to all corners of the ground, actions which lent themselves to the presumption he may, too, have played his last game in this arena, before spending the rest of the game mucking about on the bench, squirting water at the coaching staff and revelling in the occasion. Conte would be drenched again on the final whistle, thanking his staff out on the turf. This season has been a triumph. In that sense, it was an apt moment for Terry to be saying goodbye.

Guardian