So much can change in such a short space of time. Just over a week ago we were left reeling after losing to Liverpool, and on Sunday were left baffled by what can be deemed as the worst performance in the Ancelotti era.

There are plenty of excuses but one blatant truth. Chelsea just did not turn up.

No Ray of Light on Sunday...©Reuters Pictures

So much can change in such a short space of time. Just over a week ago we were left reeling after losing to Liverpool, and on Sunday were left baffled by what can be deemed as the worst performance in the Ancelotti era.

Reading the statistics in the Sunday papers made the impending game seem one of ease and all signs were pointing towards a home victory.

Sunderland had failed to beat Chelsea in their last 11 games against us. One paper even had their chances of victory at 4% - especially as after 6 away games they had drawn 4 and lost 2.

Chelsea were yet to concede at home, and had a clean sweep of all 6 home league games in the bag.

Sunderland were all but written off by journalists and fans alike, I’m never a fond believer in historical data as it always seems to pop up and nip you in the bum, and nip hard it did.

The Black Cats deserve to have praise heaped upon them, they went to the home of the Champions and stifled them in all positions and didn’t sit back when they went 1-0 up as most teams would.

Steve Bruce is a great extoller of attacking football and he proved that on Sunday and also earlier in the season when they outplayed and outclassed Arsenal but only came away with one point.

Chelsea on the other hand can be thankful that they have injuries to fall back on. The lack of Lampard and Terry takes away the central hub of spirit in the team that they have instilled over the years.

The injury to Alex further weakened the solidity of the defence that a quality striker like Asamoah Gyan needs to keep him at bay.

The added suspension of Essien left our midfield once again looking as weak as they did a week earlier against Liverpool.

Mikel cannot be faulted for his determination in trying to work as the engine of the team. His lofted passes were frustrating as they failed to penetrate a Sunderland defence that would have been resolute had it been challenged. But at least he was trying to create something, which cannot be said of his midfield colleagues.

Zhirkov and Ramires did their best impressions of Audley Harrison by bringing zero physicality and zero fight to the centre of the park.

If only Zhirkov could’ve produced some output at the end of his mazy runs we could’ve made a fist of it, but his decision making inside the box proved to be poor on more than one occasion.

The defence can be also be classed as makeshift at best, as with the midfield.

This is where we lost the game. For the first time under the tutelage of Ancelotti we can actually pinpoint a decision that is questionable. The inclusion of Ferreira, an out and out right back, over the young centre back Bruma seemed bizarre.

It’s quite clearly a case of experience. But not in this case, what experience can Paulo offer at centre back? Less than Bruma for sure.

In a comment on my last post a commenter asked me what I thought the chances of the youth players starting are. I think Ancelotti gave his answer with that decision on Sunday.

Quite simply Bruma should have been drafted in, the gaps for the goals – and most of the chances – came from the central defenders being drawn to the ball and not to the players. It was too easy for Sunderland to break through.

In the case of the commenter asking whether McEachran should start ahead of Ramires, I don’t particularly agree.

In my heart I would love to see a youth product of 17 break through to a starting place. But in my head how can we discount a player who has experience in the form of double figured appearances for Brazil?

I’m not saying that Ramires is good at the moment, but also at this moment he is the safe option which is what we need – most of the time.

Bruma was the risky option, but it turned out that having a defence consisting of three right backs and a left back was actually even riskier. There were times that it looked like we had actually fielded our defence in that fashion.

At one point during the game I commented that we were playing as if we had 10 men. There was something really lacking on Sunday.

To win the league you need passion and determination. These are things that players like Lampard and Terry bring to the starting eleven. Whether it is their English style or just their playing style, we are going to struggle if we are missing both.

If rumours to be believed are that we will be without Terry for several months on the season, and now Alex is out for 8 weeks. There are going to be very tough times ahead, but Champions have to get out of these situations - injuries or not.

On to Birmingham away next week, a similar team in style to Sunderland but without as much quality in their play. It will be difficult, but hopefully the team have been given a short, sharp jolt to get back on track after a horrible week of football for us.

I’m not full of doom or gloom, I’m aware that football is a game where bad runs occur. The worrying thing is that this bad run may not be over.

A lot is being said of the fact that we haven’t got a big enough squad to cope with the challenges of the title. No team would cope without players we had out on Sunday - top quality Championship winning players.

Samir Nasri also piped up stating that we aren’t as much of a challenge as we were last season. Funny that we didn’t hear him say such things when they lost two of their home games to newly promoted teams – Newcastle and West Brom.

What most people are forgetting in the hoo-hah of Chelsea losing their first home league game since March, Sunderland are actually a good quality team – and unfortunately for us they deserved to win.

Let’s just hope that this is just a blip and it isn’t a full blown bubble burst sort of scenario. The scary thing is that we can’t be sure this is the case, although Chelsea have often proved that they can pick themselves up after a poor run but I'm not sure we've faced an injury crisis like this in a while. A problem symptomatic of having an older squad.

It isn’t worth worrying about just at this moment. We are still sitting ugly at the top of the league, fortunate enough that two digressions haven’t affect that position. If we can’t pick ourselves up soon though there may be more to worry about and ponder. January purchases inclusive.

Keep the Blue Flag Flying High!