Terry Plunders the Points As Chelsea Have to Dig Deep

This was not the most impressive display from Chelsea - it was a hard-fought win on a bitterly cold afternoon in the north east - but you cannot play Derby every week and you get the same number of points for a single-goal victory as you do for a six-goal rout.

They would have been even happier had Derby managed to hold out against Manchester United for another 15 minutes because Avram Grant's team play Arsenal next week and are definitely still in the title race. Yet, after taking an early lead, they never quite managed to make their superiority count against a gritty Sunderland side that improved throughout the game and, by the end, Chelsea were quite relieved to hear the final whistle.

The trouble with ranting against refereeing injustices, as Roy Keane was to discover, is that it often makes it harder for officials to award borderline decisions in your favor. So it proved in the seventh minute here, when Kenwyne Jones won a header from Craig Gordon's clearance and a suddenly flat-footed John Terry brought down Roy O'Donovan with a sprawling challenge in the penalty area. Some referees would have awarded a spot-kick - Mike Dean did not, possibly basing his interpretation on the scale of robustness set by Portsmouth's Sylvain Distin on Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo in last week's FA Cup tie.

O'Donovan did not complain too much, Keane probably scowled a bit more, but, three minutes later, it was all academic because Sunderland went a goal behind. There was nothing controversial about this one. At a corner, taken by Frank Lampard, Terry slipped his marker - if marking the Chelsea defender was what Jones was supposed to be doing - and scored with a free header.

Sunderland had no excuses; Michael Ballack had been presented with a free header from Lampard's previous corner and might have opened the scoring, or at least got his attempt on target, had he reacted as sharply and decisively as his captain. There is not much point complaining about decisions going against you if you put yourself under a handicap through dozy defending.

Chelsea could have scored a couple of more goals during a short, but effective, spell of pressure midway through the first half, but Jonny Evans made a terrific saving tackle on Didier Drogba, Gordon got his body behind Ballack's speculative shot and Joe Cole failed to get a touch after Ashley Cole had done all the hard work by cutting in from the left and crossing from the byline.

Sunderland's best chance of the first half came when Jones was bundled over by John Mikel Obi on the edge of the penalty area and Andy Reid's free kick had Carlo Cudicini scurrying to keep the ball out of his top corner.

Cudicini was involved in another telling incident just before the interval. He came out to gather comfortably at O'Donovan's feet and was incensed when the Irishman appeared to leave his foot in. The referee could hardly be blamed for missing that, although O'Donovan escaping punishment did rather undermine Keane's claim that Sunderland have not had any lucky breaks this season.

Chelsea appeared in no hurry to extend their lead in the second half and seemed to be quite happy to play within themselves and contain Sunderland's sporadic attacks. But they almost came to grief in the 54th minute thanks to a moment of dingbat defending. While attempting to clear, Alex sent one header straight up into the air, then - when the ball came down - failed to find a safe way to get it back to Cudicini. Reid could not take immediate advantage, but Grant Lead bitter did better, with a shot the Chelsea goalkeeper only just managed to keep out, with slight assistance from an upright.

The visiting team then carved out a decent opening when Joe Cole cleverly played in Drogba behind the Sunderland defence, but the striker's cross eluded Lampard by a yard. Perhaps it should have been the other way round because Lampard seemed distinctly unimpressed by Drogba's delivery and the center-forward appeared to feel Lampard should have attacked the ball in a more convincing manner.

Drogba would certainly have thrown more of his weight into a header than Jones managed to do for Sunderland, 15 minutes from the end, when he wasted a great diagonal pass from Dwight Yorke, and a free header in front of goal, by merely glancing the ball straight into Cudicini's arms. The goalkeeper was not having the most relaxed of games and almost anything with power or direction would have troubled him, yet Jones managed neither with what amounted to a back pass.

Jones got another chance from Yorke to score in the final minute and, this time, managed a much more powerful header, only to see the ball fly over the crossbar. It was not to be quite Sunderland's last hope of an equalizer - Dean Whitehead sending a shot, on the turn, inches wide of a post in stoppage time - but Chelsea held out to earn valuable points in the title chase.

Man of the match: Frank Lampard

Kenwyne Jones deserved something until blotting
his copybook by missing the best chance of the game,
but he has been a success for Sunderland this season.
Lampard did not fill his boots as he did in midweek,
but, for the first hour, he was quietly authoritative in
midfield and his passing was excellent.