Fans travelled to Stamford Bridge in hope, not expectation, knowing that London has been the unhappiest of hunting grounds for them in the top flight and, at Chelsea, their previous three games had seen nine goals shipped without reply.

Top sport stories...
- Keane: transfer spending is key.
- Higgy: I got it wrong.
- Whitehead: We rattled Chelsea.
- Sunderland v Newcastle for Man Utd star.
- Latest Premier League video highlights.

Saturday was their 13th straight Premiership defeat in the capital.

And statistically, it will go down as probably the most predictable loss of Sunderland's entire campaign – a side which had not won away from home all season and not taken a point from any side in the top 10, playing away to a team which had not lost in 70 home games and which had taken 16 points out of their last 18.

What WAS unexpected was the limp nature of Sunderland's display as Chelsea produced one of the most one-sided halves in Premiership history.

And though the visitors showed more spirit in the second half it never remotely looked liked translating into being enough to put the home team under real pressure.

Sunderland have travelled to the lion's den before this season – mighty Old Trafford and fortress Emirates – but against both United and Arsenal they offered stiff resistance, always trying to take the game to their opponents.

It was not the case at the Bridge.

Chelsea played football on a different level to that played by Sunderland and were so superior in just about every department that at times it was almost painful watching Roy Keane's men being toyed with so casually.

And, at the game's conclusion, all Sunderland could do was to accept the sobering nature of the defeat and look to move on immediately to the more winnable challenge of Aston Villa this Saturday.

Keane went into the Chelsea game making two changes to the side which beat Derby seven days earlier.

Liam Miller replaced broken-leg victim Carlos Edwards on the right, while the defensive-minded Dickson Etuhu was drafted in at the expense of striker Andy Cole as the team switched formation from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1.

The switch in formation was a recognition of Chelsea's stunning home record as well as an acknowledgement that the Wearsiders' last away trip had been that 7-1 drubbing at Everton.

Chelsea were without the injured Didier Drogba, but the absence of the Blues' leading scorer was compensated for by the inclusion of £20million midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips, while the presence of Andriy Shevchenko up front meant the Londoners were hardly struggling for a quality front-man to turn to.

The enormity of the task ahead of Sunderland was brought home to them in the first 10 minutes when Darren Ward's goal was put under complete siege but somehow survived the battering.

The closest the rampant Blues came to scoring, in an onslaught underpinned by a succession of corners, was in the fifth minute when Joe Cole whipped in a corner from the right and Salomon Kalou's powerful header wobbled the crossbar before bouncing away to safety.

The writing was on the wall, though, even then, with Sunderland defending so deeply that full-backs Ashley Cole and Juliano Belletti were playing virtually as out-and-out wingers.

It was Greg Halford's 23rd birthday, but the only happy returns he was getting was the ball perpetually re-appearing down his flank and it was from his zone that Chelsea's opening goal came.

Belletti, just inside the Sunderland half, pinged a delicious crossfield ball diagonally to the feet of Kalou on the left of goal.

He made himself space before crossing beyond Halford's outstretched boot to the head of Shevchenko at the far post, where the Ukrainian was left criminally unmarked and powered a downward header past the exposed Ward from six yards out.

Sunderland rallied briefly, but Grant Leadbitter and Ross Wallace squandered deadball opportunities which might have pulled their side back into it.

Kenwyne Jones, an isolated figure up front for Sunderland between England captain John Terry and deeply impressive, giant centre-half Alex, produced his side's first shot on target in the 33rd minute – a low shot left of goal from range which Carlo Cudicini fell to his left to save.

But arguably the best chance Sunderland had in the first-half didn't even produce a shot – Halford's long throw from the right flank flummoxing the Chelsea defence and dropping invitingly loose on the six-yard box only to find no Sunderland player there to attack it.

The first half had been so cringingly one-sided that Sunderland could only improve in the second, especially being a goal down, and they duly made more of a fist of it on the resumption – even if that just meant not letting Chelsea have it entirely their own way.

They produced the first shot of the second half, with Leadbitter swivelling to scoop a shot over the bar but, as in the first half, Sunderland had no real reply to the sheer superiority of Chelsea's players who excelled in terms of pace, movement, technique and team understanding.

The home team were a constant threat and against such standards it was vital that Sunderland made the most of the half-chances they might conjure.

So when Danny Collins flighted in a ball from the left-wing just before the hour, Jones needed to do more than glance his effort across the face of goal.

The arrival of substitutes Anthony Stokes and Daryl Murphy pepped Sunderland up, while Dickson Etuhu continued to work manfully in midfield to contain the purring Blues engine room.

But there was almost an air of inevitability about Chelsea's second, even though when it came, it came somewhat fortuitously.

Frank Lampard hoisted in a free-kick from the left in the 75th minute, Danny Higginbotham yanked back on the shirt of Alex and referee Peter Walton pointed to the spot where Lampard blasted his penalty to Ward's left as the keeper moved to his right.

It was the end of Sunderland's Plan A – hang in like grim death and hope to snatch something, maybe at the death; and there was no Plan B.

Sunderland tried gamely to threaten and Murphy flashed a shot across goal from the right, but Chelsea were playing within themselves and there was still time for Lampard to slash in a shot which rattled Ward's right-hand post.

And, to make a dispiriting day worse, Miller got sent off in the dying minutes of the game having fouled John Terry and, in the resulting handbags, retaliated to a snide kick from Claudio Pizarro by raising his hands to the Italian striker.

That will be a three-game suspension Sunderland can ill afford.

Chelsea produced arguably the most clinical dissection of Sunderland so far this season, but they will win few friends around England if they continue with the sort of wind-up actions shown by Pizarro or the habit of flashing imaginary yellow cards at the referee every time one of their own is tackled strongly.

For Sunderland, the search for that elusive first Premiership win – and they haven't won in 18 top-flight matches on their travels – now moves on to the more realistic target of the Madejski Stadium and the game at Reading on December 22.

In the meantime, results have conspired against the Black Cats to send them crashing back into the bottom three as the three teams below them each recorded unlikely wins, but, in the minds of Sunderland supporters, entirely predictable wins.

The next match up is Aston Villa at the Stadium of Light and the home form, which Keane believes could be the key to keeping Sunderland up this season, needs to remain solid.