Summary
Frank Lampard netted for the third game in a row to keep the team's 100 per cent record in 2012 going.
Lampard's 11th of the season put him clear as Chelsea's top scorer this season and came early in the first-half after Fernando Torres had been unlucky to hit woodwork.
The Spaniard gave the Sunderland defence a tough afternoon despite not finding the net and had two strong penalty appeals turned down after the break. We were also denied a spot kick when Juan Mata appeared to be tripped but the visitors claimed a penalty of their own soon after.
Chelsea were comfortable for most of the game but towards the end as the tension built, Sunderland had their best opportunities to score, missing twice inside the final five minutes.
Michael Essien made his return as a substitute as Andre Villas-Boas's men held on for three points on an afternoon when we closed the gap to Tottenham by two points.
Best moment
No touch of the football needed on this occasion. Essien simply crossing the white line after five months out to provide reinforcement to the squad without a pound being spent was a clear highlight.
Team news
Daniel Sturridge and Florent Malouda were passed fit enough to be on the bench so Ramires again took on the right-side-of-the-attack duties. The defence was unchanged for a third game. Essien, out since the first week of pre-season, was back among the subs.
Sunderland were able bring back Phil Bardsley in defence and Sebastian Larsson in midfield. Both missed their last league game.
First half
Chelsea were found wanting down the left side of our defence as early as the third minute. The nippy Stephane Sessegnon burrowed a way through and squared the ball but James McClean had slightly over-run it. Thankfully, that wasn't the shape of things to come as the Blues responded with a stable first-half defence against in-form opposition.
At the other end, Lampard had a shot blocked at source before Sunderland attacked again when David Luiz was booked for body-checking McClean out to the right of our penalty area. Larsson's free-kick was hit hard but Cech was able to punch away with two fists.
There was better play from Chelsea on 10 minutes when Cole crossed and Torres jumping to the maximum was just able to get his head to it but glanced the ball wide. When the next cross came in two minutes later, the Spaniard didn't score either, but he made it possible for Lampard to do so.
The ball in was from the right this time, Mata picking out Torres who had been left all alone by the Sunderland defence. The Spaniard's over-head kick was sweet and accomplished but it cannoned down off the bar. There was Lamps however to slide it over the line.
For a brief moment on 20 minutes it looked like Ramires might race through and add a second, but the ball had too much pace on it to be caught.
On 26 minutes, David Luiz advanced and won a free-kick, receiving a kick on the head for his troubles. Mata's 30-yard free-kick needed a full-length dive to keep it out.
Another Torres header was on target before Lee Cattermole adjusted his body shape to head clear.
It wasn't all Chelsea in the first half however, and Nicklas Bendtner was allowed to escape 10 minutes before the break to drag a shot wide of the far post.
Torres was looking sharp and was receiving plenty of encouragement from the Stamford Bridge support. He turned in very little space outside the area and flashed a shot just inches wide.
Sunderland lost centre-back Matthew Kilgallon to an awkward fall just before the break.
Second half
Torres was soon threatening the Sunderland goal again, his shot after a well-judged Mata pass was heading inside the post before Mignolet pushed it out. Mata then mistimed a volley straight from a Lampard corner.
Mignolet almost gifted a goal when he spilled a Cole cross after Lampard had spread the play. Ramires, at full-stretch, did reach the loose ball but it was impossible to turn on target.
Just before the hour came the tale of three penalty claims, two by Chelsea in the same move.
Torres was worming his way through a crowd just inside the area when O'Shea appeared to trip him. The ball rolled on and as Mata went past the keeper, he too was sent tumbling. The Chelsea bench were in no doubt we should have had at least one go our way.
Almost immediately Sunderland were appealing themselves when Cole and Bendtner came together under an aerial ball and the Dane hit the floor.
The raised temperature was too much for Sunderland captain Cattermole who added to his yellow card collection for a foul on Lampard.
Fortune smiled on the Blues when we left McClean unmarked at the far post as Larsson attacked well and crossed, but he wastefully misguided his shot.
Then it was back to the penalty shouts and this time Torres was booked by referee Phil Dowd after he went down. Replays however suggested the Chelsea man had been caught by the knee of Bardsley as he ran past.
Essien's comeback was with 72 minutes played, Lampard the one to make way for the Ghanaian who had been out of action since the first week of pre-season training. Just prior to that, his new colleague in midfield, Meireles, was booked for a foul.
The Blues were now playing with two holding midfielders but the single-goal winning margin guaranteed a nervy last 10 minutes. Cole did admirably to head behind a dangerous cross with Bendtner ready to pounce. Cech rose high and claimed the corner that followed.
Meireles almost relieved the pressure with a chip from outside the area but the keeper just managed to tip over, and then when Cech failed to push a cross out of play, he needed two grabs at a ball back across his six-yard box.
Inside the last five minutes, Meireles wasted a shot and Torres turned the visitors' defence inside-out but then couldn't set up a colleague before Sunderland countered and created a good chance.
Thankfully substitute Gardner shot wide to the horror of his new manager on the touchline. That wasn't their last opportunity however. Bendtner was found wide of the goal and with space to shoot with two minutes stoppage time played but the former Arsenal man put it wide of the angle of post and crossbar.
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, D Luiz, Terry (c), Cole; Meireles, Romeu, Lampard (Essien 72); Ramires, Torres, Mata (Malouda 84).
Unused subs Turnbull, Hutchinson, Bertrand, Sturridge, Lukaku.
Scorer Lampard 12
Booked David Luiz 7, Torres 64, Meireles 72.
Sunderland (4-4-1-1): Mignolet; Bardsley, O'Shea, Kilgallon (Turner 45), Richardson (Wickham 80); Larsson, Vaughan (Gardner 69), Cattermole (c), McClean; Sessègnon; Bendtner.
Unused subs, Westwood, Meyler, Elmohamady, Dong Won Ji.
Booked Cattermole 57.
Referee Phil Dowd.
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