No-one is talking about a two-horse title race now - and no-one ever was at Chelsea according Avram Grant who saw his side win at Sunderland.

It was by no means an emphatic victory, the Wearsiders enjoying plenty of the play after the interval, but John Terry's ninth minute goal was enough to maintain the best away record in the Barclays Premier League.

With Arsenal dropping home points, their fourth consecutive draw, the Gunners are just three points ahead with Chelsea to play a game in hand over them on Wednesday. Arsenal's next game is at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Man United remain three ahead of us having played the same number of games.

'I respect what people thought but what was more important was what I thought and what the players thought,' Grant said, when reminded that Chelsea were all but ruled out of contention a few weeks back.

'We knew that we were close, even if at the start of the season we were behind a bit because we did not start the season so well.

'I am positive and very optimistic by nature and from the second week I was here we have shown reason why I can believe in this team, and we believe, even if sometimes we are losing games.'

Grant singled out his captain John Terry for a special mention, not just for his first goal since the first day of last season, but also for his defensive display as Sunderland pressed.

'I am happy for the result of course,' the manager said.

'It is not easy to play here, Sunderland are fighting for their life and they fought very well.

'We knew that before and we started the game very well. We held the ball, scored the goal and could have scored more.

'Then in the second half it was more difficult. Sunderland played some direct balls very dangerously, but we also came close to the second goal.'

Sunderland manager Roy Keane, though on the other end of the result, joined Grant in finding satisfaction from the game.

'It is very rare you lose a game at home and get applauded off the pitch,' Keane pointed out.

'I am very happy with our performance but if you talk to the Chelsea manager, I am sure he will be relatively happy with the fact they won 1-0.

'I'm disappointed with the result. It was a sloppy goal to give away, a needless corner and Chelsea are good at set-pieces. We never quite recovered but I was delighted with my players' reaction.

'We had chances when over the last few weeks we have not been creating chances. Chelsea took theirs, we didn't, and that is why they are playing for titles and European Cups.'

Grant summed up the spirit he sees in the Chelsea dressing room.

'If we lose a game, it makes us stronger, not weaker. We saw the response after the Carling Cup and now we have seen our response after the FA Cup. We are not changing our vision.'


This game can be seen in full on Chelsea TV at 6pm on Sunday. Highlights will be available on Chelsea Plus from midnight on Sunday.