There may be nearly a division between Chelsea and Sunderland but on Wednesday night one man was the difference between two sides fighting at opposite ends of the Barclays Premier League.

Gus Poyet knows an unplayable figure in Chelsea colours when he sees one and Eden Hazard produced his finest display for Jose Mourinho to keep Chelsea right in the title hunt. ‘We had a special Hazard,’ said the Chelsea boss. ‘That was his best for me. He showed ambition from the first minute to the last.

‘Sometimes he does incredible things, then he disappears from the game, a bit like a kid enjoying it. Today he was fantastic throughout. So was Mata.’

This was a Hazard warning to Chelsea’s title rivals, but Mourinho’s side did it the hard way, overcoming a second-half Sunderland revival to secure the points.

That was of some consolation to Poyet, who had hoped to mark the 13th anniversary of his first game on Wearside — a 4-1 Sunderland win over Chelsea — with another victory.

‘Hazard was unplayable,’ admitted Poyet. ‘I don’t remember another player performing at this level against me as a manager. It was spectacular. We tried everything — doubling up, tripling up. We even changed the wide man. It was a great display.’

There was an element of fortune about Sunderland’s opener, and a hint of untidy defending from John Terry after the Chelsea defence had failed to clear a free-kick on 14 minutes. Andrea Dossena’s weak shot barely reached the Chelsea wall, but it bounced into the path of Jack Colback, who poked the ball back into the area to the feet of Jozy Altidore.

With Terry at his back, he gathered the ball, turned and drilled his shot past Cech. It was Altidore’s first goal in eight Premier League starts and 12 appearances, and may force a re-write for the Sunderland supporters who chant ‘Jozy Altidore, he’s never going to score, why, why, why?’ But the lead lasted less than four minutes.

This time it was Sunderland who failed to clear a set piece, although there appeared little danger when Mata’s corner flew over a packed area and out to Ki Sung Yeung.

His pass only found Hazard and the Belgian breezed past Craig Gardner before chipping a neat cross from the by-line into the throng. It found Frank Lampard, who lost his marker Dossena and nodded into the ground past the stranded Vito Mannone.

Chelsea cranked up the pressure and nearly made it 2-1 at a corner when Altidore failed to get enough purchase on his clearance and a bouncing ball landed at the feet of Fernando Torres, who drilled a half-volley over the bar. The Spain striker was then denied by John O’Shea’s excellent tackle from behind after the pair had chased Lampard’s wonderful pass from mid-way inside his own half. There was no mistake from Hazard, however, on 36 minutes.

Cech’s punt forward was headed up by Torres and Hazard gathered the loose ball. He took half a dozen touches with his right foot, skipped inside Gardner and Phil Bardsley, then drilled a shot across goal and out of Mannone’s despairing reach. Sunderland equalised immediately after the re-start when Chelsea failed to clear another untidy corner from Giaccherini, whose under-hit set pieces were causing consternation among home supporters.

The ball bounced around the area until it fell at the feet of O’Shea, who fired a snap-shot past the exposed Cech from close range to make it 2-2. Such was Chelsea’s anxiety that Torres was booked by Phil Dowd for attempting to referee the game, after Colback had somehow escaped a sending-off for his second blatant trip on the excellent Willian.

Perhaps Torres would have been better off concentrating on his own job. He fluffed his best chance when the ball fell at his feet after Mannone had spilled a routine effort from Hazard.

To the relief of Mourinho and Chelsea, Hazard made no mistake when he was presented with his next chance.And Chelsea’s fourth goal came six minutes from the end, just after Poyet had thrown on striker Steven Fletcher in a bid to find another equaliser.

It came from Ba’s cross, which Bardsley inexplicably slid into his own net.

Bardsley promptly made it 4-3 after more Chelsea dithering at a corner, but despite throwing centre back O’Shea up front and piling forward throughout six minutes of added time, Sunderland could not find another way back.

Poyet said: ‘If we can play like that, fight like that, we will stay in the Premier League. I am proud of my players although still hurting because we lost. Chelsea had to work hard to take three points and that makes me proud.’

—Daily Mail